The Crooked Skyline
by Starr Williams
Summary: While this story has a place in my fic universe, it is one that I started writing a while ago. The events of 9/11 changed so many things. I wondered what the Gargoyles would have done, waking up from their stone sleep to see the horrific aftermath of that day. Please read the intro for more information.
1. Author's Notes

Dear friends,

I started writing this story years ago, only to rework some things, re-write others, then scrapping it all and starting over again. In the end, I am very happy with the results.

Even then, I have been hesitant to share it.

The events of September 11, 2001, was a dark day in American history. I remember it well, sitting in my living room and staring at the television screen as the events unfolded before my eyes. Between phone calls to friends and family, I wept and mourned with the rest of America at the tragedy and tremendous loss of life. I also found a new respect for those with the various branches of the NYPD, NYFD and the other Emergency Responders.

As cliche as it sounds, It really does take a special kind of person to run into dangerous situations while others are running away. Not for money, not for glory, but to truly help people. That, my friends, is the truest definition of a hero.

This is why, once again, I find myself writing in my own fanfiction universe of Disney's Gargoyles. The Gargoyles was a cartoon series that originally aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. While it is not being produced anymore, it is amazing to me how strong of a following, and how loyal the fans are for an animated show that ended over a decade ago. I am proud to say that I have had a hand in passing the love of the television show to the next generation. Both my boys are as much in love with the series as I am.

It was in my head, wondering what the Gargoyles would have thought about the events that had happened when they awoke for the night and seeing the devastation that would forever change their beloved Manhattan's skyline. The events were too fresh in my mind at the time to write it then, and so I put it on the back burner to let it simmer.

I would like to thank K. R. (You know who you are) a fellow Gargoyle fan who was willing to read this before I post it, helping with editing and giving me encouragement to go ahead and post this.

If you haven't read any of my other fics, I left in quite a bit of summary in the first chapter to get you caught up. If you have read my other fics, have patience with this one more, and I will try to cut down on the long-winded rehashing summaries in the future. :)

Thank you all,

Abby deSoto

"September 11 impressed upon us that life is a precious gift. Every life has a purpose. And I think we all have a duty to devote at least a small portion of our daily lives to ensuring that neither America nor the world ever forgets September 11." Bill Frist

"September 11, 2001, revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage." Geraldine Brooks


	2. Chapter 1

In a penthouse apartment, high above the busy streets of Manhattan, a raven-haired woman woke slowly. It was not morning, far from it, as it was actually closer to day's end than the beginning.

She had managed a full 9 hours of sleep, able to sleep and wake at her leisure… an almost unheard of event in the past few years. As such, she reveled in the rare, restful silence.

Elisa Maza, a lead detective with the New York Police Department, smiled to herself in the late afternoon daylight streaming in from her windows. Normally, that level of quiet in her apartment was a cause for alarm, making her wonder what her son had gotten into. Today, however, her son was safely tucked away with his grandparents where he would be spending the weekend.

It was Elisa and Goliath's anniversary. Twelve years of knowing each other, married for eight years, and they had been parents to their precocious 6 year old since he was only a few months old.

Liam had run full force into the "girls are icky" phase, and it had bled over onto his parents. He would groan, make gagging noises and run from rooms if Goliath and Elisa showed affection in his presence. When he had heard that his parents were planning a date night, he promptly packed a bag and begged to go to the castle. To his grandparent's house. To stay with his "auntie" Beth. To the Labyrinth with his Uncle Derek. To go anywhere that did not involve the possibility of seeing his parents kiss.

Gods forbid.

That was why yesterday afternoon, just before having to report in to work, Diane Maza, Elisa's mother, had come to pick up her grandson. He was going to hang out with his grandparents for a couple of days.

Elisa chuckled, rising from the bed. Liam was getting so big, so fast, and was amazingly well-adjusted considering his early life and his non-traditional family.

She had some extra time yet, so she decided to go out for a run. Pulling out her NYPD warm up suit and jogging shoes. She had the weekend off, and while she enjoyed her free time she felt like she was slacking off if she didn't at least go for a short run. She could actually go outside today, which was a luxury. With Liam somewhere else for the moment, she could get the fresh air from outside instead of running on the treadmill in her apartment. She much preferred to go jogging in one of the nearby parks, but until Liam was old enough to join her, she would make the compromise.

It was sometimes hard to believe how her life had changed in the past twelve years. She had met the Gargoyles then, and had become part of an extended part of their clan.

The first human to ever have such an honor, but not the last. The clan had grown by a select few human members, among which was Elisa's family, her partner Matt Bluestone and the Chief of police, Maria Chavez.

As hesitant as Elisa had been to share the clan and their existence with anyone else, she had finally given in. It ended up being a good thing, as there were now a number of people who could be looked to for help if it were needed and help keep the Gargoyles as undercover as possible.

It was impossible to keep them completely hidden. Ever since the family known as The Hunters declared war on the clan, taking it to the public the night of the Hunter's Moon and the resulting destruction of St. Damien's Cathedral, the existence of the Gargoyles had been thrust into the public.

Shortly after the Hunter's Moon incident, Elisa had become the target of an anti-gargoyle movement. The protesters had caused such a commotion outside of her old apartment that she had been "urged to leave". She had been worried about finding a new place to live, but had received a shock when Jason Canmore had used the remaining of his considerable savings to purchase a condo for her and the clan's use. He meant for it to be a reparation for the hurt and damage that he and his siblings had been responsible for.

It was a three bedroom, two story condo with a large open courtyard. It was near enough to the castle for the clan to visit often, but far enough that she didn't feel like she was under Xanatos' nose.

David Xanatos, on again and off again reformed criminal, had at one time been the biggest enemy of the clan.

He had turned a corner when the clan had helped save his son. He was trying to make up for his past mistakes and repairing his relationship with the Gargoyle clan. He had provided food, shelter and a safe environment for the Gargoyles to live.

While he had made great strides in repairing his reputation, there were some things that Elisa was not ready to simply forget. The biggest sin was when Xanatos had hired a sleazeball geneticist to try to "create" his own Gargoyles for him to control. Dr. Sevarius, the criminally insane scientist, had turned to gene splicing and human experimentation. Elisa's own brother, Derek, had ended up as one of his experiments.

Now, Derek and two others appeared more feline than human, with the wings of a bat and the power to electrocute people.

The public had not found out about _them_ just yet. Elisa was half afraid of what the masses would do with that information. Mass hysteria, she imagined.

While the Gargoyles had caused public outcries, both for and against the Gargoyles, eventually the general public just came to accept their existence. While there were still outbreaks of Anti-Gargoyle fanaticism once in awhile, most of Manhattan's population had come to accept them. The Gargoyles had become a kind of cross between urban legend, tourist attraction and Manhattan Island's unofficial mascots.

There were even websites devoted to those who had come face to face with the clan. Some were completely outrageous, some obviously faked, but some of them were genuine and helped to paint the clan in a much needed positive light.

The ringing of the Elevator's bell brought Elisa back to the present. The elevators opened, and Elisa made her way through the lobby. She waved at Tony, the day security guard on the way out. Walking to the corner, she didn't like to officially begin her run until the crosswalk sign turned to 'go'. Elisa pulled out her iPod and scrolled through her music trying to decide what song to start on. When the light finally turned, and a fast-paced beat pounding in her ears, Elisa let her mind wander a bit.

Thinking more on the criminals that the Gargoyles had helped to catch, Elisa had to chuckle. Recently, there were cases in the courts being brought up from criminals who had been apprehended by the clan where the criminals were claiming "Vigilantism". None of the criminals had gotten away with it, however. They were all caught red-handed, at or near the scenes of the crime.

The Gargoyle arrests were treated as a "citizen's arrest" situation. Thankfully, to date none of the charges had been dropped due to "Gargoyle interference".

It also helped that the Gargoyle Task Force had been created by the NYPD to investigate the Gargoyles' 'arrests'. If there were reports of Gargoyles being at a scene, the task force, led by Elisa's partner, Matt Bluestone, would come in and do their own investigations on the crimes and the actions of the clan to make sure that the right person had been caught.

After the events of the Hunter's Moon incidents, and the events that happened soon after, Elisa finally forced herself to admit her feelings about the clan's leader, Goliath.

Luckily, he had felt the same way. They had both felt something for each other for quite a while before that, almost since the beginning. It was only after almost losing each other that the feelings were spoken out loud and acknowledged.

Soon after that, they had been "married". It had been a small ceremony within the clan, led by the clan elder, Hudson. A few others had been invited, her parents, brother and sister had been there. Matt, Maria and the Xanatos', Fox and David had been there, too.

Goliath had begun spending most of his time at her apartment, and eventually he was only going to the castle when she was at work. After a while, he decided to step down as the leader of the clan, passing the torch to Brooklyn.

Goliath was still a valued member of the clan, still ran patrols and took part in the clan's activities, but he wanted to spend time with his wife. Elisa joined them as much as she always had, and the clan had taken it all in stride.

Broadway and Angela followed suit, having a mating ceremony of their own. Then, a very short time after that (much to their chagrin) Angela surprised everyone by putting the first egg the Castle Wyvern rookery had seen in over a thousand years.

Even more surprising was when the egg hatched, and out came a set of twins.

Angela was expecting again, somehow. The clan was puzzled, to say the least. Normally, the gestation time took six months to lay the egg, and ten years to hatch. Angela's eggs had hatched in a fraction of that time.

Both of the hatchlings were fine. A boy named Connor and a girl named Brenna.

The timing was making the clan wonder how that was possible. The going theory was that all of the time that she had spent on Avalon from birth had somehow altered her cycles. Time moved differently on Avalon after all, so perhaps her body had adjusted accordingly.

At any rate, the clan was growing and had young ones running around again.

The rhythmic feel from the pounding of her feet meeting the paved jogging trails of Madison Square Park helped to clear her mind. In that clarity that she found, and in the precious time that she had alone, a dark thought came to mind. Something so selfish that it surprised her when it popped into her mind.

She was able to admit it to herself, in this alone time, even if it was something she could not admit to anyone else...

Elisa _was_ happy about the clan's growth, but she felt a deep sense of relief as well.

She had put off marrying Goliath for almost a year. Not because she didn't love him, that had never been an issue. Among other silly concerns, she didn't want to be the reason why Goliath never had more children. He was an amazing father to Angela, and Elisa had felt an overwhelming sense of guilt over cheating him of the chance to be a father again.

The Manhattan Clan were not the last of the Gargoyles, they knew that now. Even having met others, however, there were so few in the world. If there was a chance for more Gargoyle eggs and children…

Elisa had brought it up once to Goliath. It had been a couple of months after he had asked her to get married in the clan's tradition, and he was afraid of the reasons she could have to keep putting the ceremony off. They had a major blow up, and Elisa's feelings about the clan's lack of children came out. Goliath had only gotten angrier at her, both had said some harsh things, and they had parted that night on bad terms.

Elisa had called her sister Beth, who had recently moved back to New York at that point. Beth had finally finished her degree in Anthropology and Native American Studies in Arizona, and had gotten a job at the National Museum of the American Indian, right there in Manhattan.

Beth had picked her older sister up and took her out in a time honored tradition of getting your closest girlfriend or sibling completely drunk after a breakup. They had gone to a quiet little dive bar, one of those places that had no blaring music or flashing lights, and had taken a lot of Jello shots and bitched about men.

Men were men, no matter the species, they decided. They were still a pain in women's backsides.

Beth actually admitted later that she had a feeling it was not a permanent thing, and that the thought of it being a forever kind of deal never even entered her mind. She had seen firsthand the kind of relationship that existed between Elisa and the Gargoyle clan leader, and had known "in her heart" that it would take something bigger than this one thing to tear them apart.

That was the one and only time Elisa had ever gotten even remotely close to being blackout drunk. She had been tipsy a few times in her life, but she always cut herself off before it went any further than that… She was hurting so badly, even though it had been her decision… or thought that it had been her decision… that she had failed to keep her usual strict self discipline.

Beth, for all of her good intentions, had a lapse in judgement that night and forgot to watch over her sister. It happened so fast, Beth had told Elisa later.

One minute Elisa had been fine, and the next Elisa had been missing. The youngest Canmore, The Hunter, had managed to escape prison a few nights before. Jon Canmore had been operating under the guise of a "concerned citizen" and leading a group of Gargoyle haters. He had seized the opportunity to kidnap Elisa from the alley beside the bar.

What followed was a few months of hell, for most involved. Elisa had been shot and left for dead on a fishing dock across the river in New Jersey. When she had woken up in the hospital, she had no memory.

Thanks to help from a few new friends, Elisa had been set up with a quiet job in a bookstore and a place to live.

Just shy of three months passed until she was discovered at a movie theater with a friend. A few memories returned within a few days, but it was months before Elisa had recovered completely.

Or as completely as possible. Her memories of her abduction and the events leading to her being shot were still hazy.

As a result, Elisa had rarely drank more than one beer or glass of wine since the night of her abduction.

When Elisa and Goliath were once more together, they finally took the time to discuss their feelings. He understood her point of view, but he insisted that he wanted to be with Elisa more than he wanted children of his own.

It took a few more weeks of insisting, but he finally wore Elisa down. They were married a short time later.

A little over a month later, Angela and Broadway had been married as well… And a few weeks later, she found out that she was carrying the first egg that the clan's rookery had seen in centuries.

Elisa's burden had lightened. Somewhat.

She had actually come to terms with not having children herself for a number of reasons. First, there was her lifestyle. She was a cop, a second generation cop whose father had devoted his life to the New York Police Department, and she understood the dangers of being both the child and the cop. There were nights when she was growing up that Elisa had feared that her father wouldn't be coming home. She worshipped the ground that her father walked on, and so it wasn't really surprising when she had followed in his footsteps, but that didn't mean that she would wish those kind of fearful nights on any child. She didn't have the safest of jobs, even with the Clan helping out.

Second, her husband was a Gargoyle. While it was possible (and fun) for them to be… uhm… intimate, having children was not possible.

They were, after all, two different species.

After the clan's children issue had been firmly put aside, she had never regretted her decision to marry Goliath. It was her only wish to find someone who could make her feel happy, loved and protected. She also needed someone who held the same core values as her.

All were things that she had found in Goliath, and more that she hadn't known that she had wanted or needed.

Elisa felt a smile spread across her face. Eight years. They had eight wonderful years together so far, and she was looking forward to many more.

Elisa finished her run. Slowing, she turned her music off once more, and dug her security key card from the inner pocket of her jogging shorts.

She had just entered the lobby, heading for the elevators, when a voice called out.

"Well, if that is not the smile of someone on cloud nine, I don't know what is."

Elisa's head snapped up and she met the friendly gaze of one of the few other people who lived in the building that she knew.

"Patty!" Elisa said, surprised. "You're… here."

Patricia Fitzgerald laughed. "Odd, I know. We just got finished with a school performance, and gearing up to start working on the Nutcracker performances for the holidays. As a bonus, the heads of Joffrey shut the school down for a couple of days so that we can rest up, de-stress and prepare for the Christmas season madness ahead."

Elisa smiled at the woman. Elisa was in shape, and she worked hard to stay so because of her job's physical requirements. Patty, however, was in phenomenal shape without having to really work at it.

Patty was a professional ballet dancer. She had done some of her training in Russia with the world renowned Russian Ballet Company, and had done a tour in Europe when she was in her 20's and 30's. Now, while she was still in great shape and had a passion for dancing, she was semi-retired and teaching the next generation of dancers at the Joffrey Ballet School on 6th Avenue.

Patty's husband, Jim, worked in the new home and business security division of Xanatos Enterprises. Elisa had been a little paranoid when she had found out Jim's employer, but truly believed now that it was a complete coincidence. Xanatos did not own this building, and Jim was the only one that she knew of that worked there. Patty had told her that they had chosen this building for the proximity to both their places of work.

Patty and Elisa often ran into each other for brief times coming and going, even when their work schedules were so opposite. Elisa often saw Patty when she was out walking her teacup poodle, Tidbit, that she took out for walks often when she was home. When she was not at home, Tidbit often when to work with her, sleeping in a small doggie bed in the corner of her office. Right now, Tidbit was peeking at Elisa out of the top of Patty's red 50's style handbag.

Elisa laughed. "I have the night off as well," she admitted.

"Well," Patty asked with an obviously fake pout, "What are a pair of workaholics like us to do with a night or two off?"

Elisa felt herself blushed a little, "I am child free for tonight, so I have a date."

"Good for you!" Patty chuckled. "How is Liam doing?"

"He is currently holed up at my parents' house, probably eating too much sugar and vegging out in front of the Disney Channel."

"That's what grandparents do best," Patty said with a knowing smile. "Feed them sugar, spoil 'em rotten, then send them back home"

"Speaking from experience?" Elisa asked.

"You betcha!"

The elevator doors opened up one floor below Elisa's condo.

"You let me know if you ever need anything," Patty called out to Elisa. "If we both have tomorrow off as well, we should go grab some coffee and have some girly time before young Mr. Liam gets home all sugared up."

"That's a deal," Elisa called back to her before the doors shut. "Give me a call tomorrow!" Elisa turned the key in the button panel that would allow the elevator car entry to the top floor.

Looking at her watch, she found that she had more than enough time for a shower and to get ready for the night out.

 _ **Eight years,**_ Elisa mused. For two years, it had just been the two of them. They had been happy with each other and how things were.

Elisa stepped into the shower, turning on the water. While she let the warm water run over her muscles, she remembered the night that had changed their lives.

It was in March, a little over five years ago...


	3. Chapter 2

**Six Years Ago...**

Elisa had been called out to help with the homicide team. She mostly worked businesses, breaking and enterings and undercover work. Working homicide was not something she normally did, but she was willing to help wherever she was needed.

She had gotten to the scene, a boarded up building in a known drug trafficking area, and helped examine the situation. It was an unfortunate case of overdosage, a young woman with a long history of arrests for drug related issues.

They were packing up to leave the scene to the coroner's team, but Elisa caught a small sound that no one else had seemed to hear.

"Quiet," she barked out.

In the sudden silence, the sound came again. Even with no noise in the room, if she hadn't been straining to hear whatever had made the sound, she would have missed it.

"Is that a cat?" one of the officers asked.

"I don't know," Elisa said. She couldn't identify the sound, but something about it just wasn't sitting right. "You guys go ahead. I'm going to see what that was."

They guys didn't argue, wandering out with mutterings about females and lost animals.

"That wasn't a cat," Elisa muttered to herself.

While the coroner and his assistants did their work, Elisa made a slow walk through of the house. It was freezing cold, due to there being no power on at the house. The woman had obviously been more concerned about her next "fix" than having lights and heat.

Elisa had almost given up, when she caught sight of a small coat closet just inside the door. She hadn't heard the sound in a while, and had almost convinced herself that she had imagined the sound at all.

Not expecting anything, Elisa opened the closet door and found the small wrapped bundle. Curious, she bent down to see what it was when the bundle shifted and a weak cry emitted from the blankets.

"Oh, god," Elisa said. She scooped up the bundle and ran for her car.

She started her car, turning the heater on to full blast. She unwrapped the small baby boy, and tucked him inside of her coat. Using her own body heat to warm the child, she called for assistance. Next she called her partner, Matt, and made arrangements for him to come and pick her car for her.

Once the ambulance pulled up, Elisa bailed out of her car and into the open doors. She sat with the small frame, holding him closely and feeling relief as his cries got stronger on the drive.

A couple of hours later, he had been seen by the doctors and given fluids. He was bathed and put into a clean bassinet in the pediatric unit.

He was slightly malnourished, dehydrated and had a hell of a diaper rash, but luckily that was the only thing wrong with him, other than just being cold from sleeping in an unheated room. In a closet. On a floor.

Elisa was so disgusted over the whole situation. How anyone could create something so precious and not treat it as the miracle it was.

"So, doc, what happens now?" Elisa asked.

"Well," The pediatric doctor rubbed the back of her neck. "First, we call Child Protective Services. They will come and get him and find him a foster home."

Elisa frowned. "When will that be?"

The doctor shrugged. "Who knows. They are busy now that the "safe drop" law has gone into effect, and places that will take in babies aren't as easy to find anymore because they're all getting full."

Elisa nodded, sadly. The "safe drop" law was put into effect to give people a safe place to leave their children, in an effort to stop child abandonment by people who couldn't care for the child. The unforeseen problem was that any homes that were able and ready to care for infants were suddenly full.

Elisa was not happy with the situation, but accepted that it was all that she could do for the time being.

On the way out of the hospital, she glanced at the gift store window and her eye caught on a onesie that looked like it might fit the boy. On a whim, Elisa walked into the shop and bought the little blue and brown striped footed pajamas. Turning, she marched back upstairs with the bag under one arm as she dug in her pocket for her cell phone.

"Maza," Captain Chavez's voice came through loud and clear. "Aren't you off the clock?"

"Crap," Elisa said, noticing the time. "Sorry, Cap."

"I heard about the baby," She said. "Good work."

"Yeah," Elisa said, still asking herself if she was about to do the right thing. "That's kind of what I want to talk to you about."

"What?"

Elisa sighed, and spilled her thoughts out onto her family friend.

"Well," Maria said softly. "Is this something you really want to do?"

"I have the next two days off, Maria." Elisa reminded her. "If it will take the CPS that long anyway, wouldn't it be better for the baby to be in a home with some extra attention than laying in the hospital?"

"Alright," Maria said. "I'll call the CPS Liaison at the hospital. She owes me one, anyway."

Elisa smiled. "Thanks, Cap."

True to her word, Maria had dropped everything and called the hospital's social worker. Within an hour, Elisa was leaving the hospital with an un-named baby that the doctors estimated was around four months old. Matt had picked her car up and after a quick stop at a store, he had driven it to the hospital.

"Elisa," He said in greeting. "I thought I had misunderstood the captain when she told me to pick up an infant car seat. Now…" He drifted off, seeing the tiny bundle in her arms.

"Nope," Elisa said. "You heard correctly."

"I can see that. Are you sure you're up to this?"

Elisa sent him a withering look. "I have younger siblings. I have been around babies before."

He threw up his hands in surrender. "Hey, no offense meant."

"I know," Elisa said. "Sorry. It's been a crappy night, and this little guy has had the worst of it."

He nodded. "I heard about that over the scanner. Good catch, by the way. The cap is having a little 'talk' with the other officers who were there with you and didn't find the little guy themselves."

Elisa strapped the sleeping baby into the rear facing seat. "I hope she doesn't give them too much static. I almost didn't find him either."

"But you looked," Matt emphasized. "You followed your instincts, and saved a life in the process."

Elisa shut the door and grabbed the keys that matt tossed in her direction. "So, what's the plan?"

"First stop," Elisa said with a smile, "is to a store. I need some things."

Matt chuckled. "Mind if I tag along? This could be entertaining."

"Sure."

It ended up being an exercise in patience more than entertainment.

Matt had stopped at every item and quizzed her about what they were for. Everything from formula to teething rings. Elisa was about to do him bodily harm.

"Matt," Elisa said, praying for patience. "I need formula, diaper rash ointment, a couple of onesies, pajamas and diapers. A couple of small toys, perhaps, but that's it."

Matt looked surprised. "But there is all of this cool stuff."

"I'm only keeping him for a couple of days," She reminded him.

Matt nodded. "Sorry. I got carried away."

Elisa smiled. "I understand. Go pick out a toy or two for me."

He took another half an hour, debating the merits of squeaky rubber animals versus a stuffed toy.

Settling on a teddy bear that was almost as big as the baby, Matt insisted that it be a gift from him and paid for it out of his own pocket.

Elisa finally got home in time for the baby boy to announce that it was feeding time. With the practice that had come from helping with two younger siblings, she mixed up a bottle and sat on the sofa while the baby made happy slurping noises.

After a bath and a diaper change, he was happy, full and warm. Elisa placed rolled up towels under her comforter around him so that he couldn't roll off and laid him down to sleep on her bed.

With a sigh, Elisa stood and stretched. As quietly as possible, she undressed and got into her favorite pair of sweatpants and oversized Columbia tee. Gently, she crawled under the covers and slept.

She was awoken a couple of times that morning for feedings and changings, but she didn't mind, knowing that she didn't have to work that night. Besides, he really was overdue for a little extra attention.

Around noon, she called her mother and explained what had happened. Her mother understood the situation, and agreed that Elisa did the right thing by taking him home.

"Poor baby," Her mother said in sympathy. "What is his name?"

"We don't know," Elisa admitted. "We don't have an i.d. On the mother yet, so we haven't been able to find his birth records. We don't have a name or birthdate yet."

"What can I help with?" Diane asked without hesitation.

"Do you still have any of our old baby furniture?" Elisa asked.

"No, sorry honey," Diane said. "But I do have a neighbor who was just talking about selling the crib that they had bought for when their grandchildren came up to visit. I'm sure they won't mind lending it to you for a few days."

"That would be wonderful," Elisa admitted. "I'm half afraid I'm going to roll over onto him."

"I will head your way as soon as I can."

"Thanks mom."

Two hours later, Elisa met her parents at the door with the dark wood crib. "Wow," Elisa said in surprise. "This looks brand new."

Diane shrugged. "The grandchild in question only came to visit twice, so it was barely used."

"Thank them for me when you get the chance." Elisa said, marvelling at her luck.

"I will," Diane said. "Do I get to meet this young man?"

Elisa grinned. "Sure."

Between the three of them, they were able to put the crib together in the living room with a minimum amount of swearing . The whole time, they switched out as to who was holding the baby.

Much cuddling and cooing followed from everyone… Even Elisa's hard as nails ex-cop father.

"What are we going to call him?" Peter Maza asked. "We can't just keep calling him 'The Boy'. It is weird."

"It's only for a few days, dad. I think it should be up to the new parents what his name will be." Elisa said.

Peter shrugged. "Just a thought."

"Uh, huh," Elisa and Diane chimed in together, laughing.

Her parents left just before 5:00 that evening, with promises to come and visit again soon.

The baby was worn out from all of the attention, and Elisa was tired herself from the lack of sleep. Elisa laid him down in his new bed, covered in his new blanket, and curled up in a corner of the couch with a blanket of her own.

She had no intention of actually going to sleep, though. Sunset was only about an hour away, and she was in the habit of being outside to greet Goliath when he woke for the day. Elisa turned on a cheerful comedy show, and tucked her feet under herself.

Within moments, she was asleep herself.


	4. Chapter 3

As tired as she was, it surprised her to wake up when Goliath had slid the balcony doors open.

"Hey, Big Guy," Elisa called quietly.

"Elisa," He called back, as quietly as the deep timbre of his voice would allow. "I was afraid that you were not home because your lights are out. Are you not feeling well?"

"I'm fine, just tired."

Goliath knelt down beside the couch, caressing the side of her face with his hand. "If you are sure."

"I'm sure," Elisa said with a smile.

The baby chose that moment to make his presence known by letting loose a howl that practically made Elisa's ears ring.

Elisa groaned and got to her feet. "Sorry, he must be hungry."

Goliath looked stunned… To say the least. "What…"

"It's a baby, Goliath. Not a time bomb, I promise." Elisa gently picked the baby up and tried to comfort him.

Goliath sent her a disgruntled look. "I _know_ it is a baby. I am simply surprised. When I last saw you, you did not have one."

Elisa laughed. "A lot can change in a day, but this you would have noticed, believe me."

Goliath smiled at that. "Where did the baby come from?"

"Could you hold him for a minute?" Elisa asked in desperation. For something so small, the baby was proving to have a good amount of strength in his little limbs. "I need to make him something to eat, and I will fill you in."

Goliath held his arms out and awkwardly cradled the small infant in the crook of one arm. The baby was flailing his arms in the air, and Goliath offered one of his taloned fingers for the baby to grasp.

He was surprised that a hand so tiny could have such a firm grasp. He held the small child while Elisa mixed up the formula and told him the story from the night before.

Goliath was as angry as she had felt at first on behalf of the small life that he now held so gently.

Elisa handed Goliath the bottle without thinking. He lowered the nipple to the small puckered mouth and watched as the baby's small fists balled up in contentment.

Elisa sighed, and collapsed back on the couch. "I forgot how little sleep these little guys need."

Goliath looked confused.

"Let me guess," Elisa said tiredly. "Gargoyle children are hatched and stay awake all night, and sleep all day."

Goliath shrugged as if saying, "Of course."

Elisa puffed out a breath. "Well, human children sleep in small bursts."

"I can watch over him for a time," he offered his exhausted wife. "You should go get some more rest."

Elisa accepted the offer, gladly. "If you are willing, I'm not going to argue. Wake me up in an hour or so, though."

"Alright," Goliath agreed, turning his attention back to the small child.

That set up a pattern for the next few days. Elisa took some of her vacation time from work and was the primary caretaker during the day. Goliath took over at night to make sure that Elisa was able to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

They had even given him a name. Goliath suggested calling him Liam, an old Gaelic name meaning "strong willed warrior".

By the end of the week, they had moved Liam's crib from the living room into Elisa's room so that she could rest in her own bed.

Elisa was starting to dread the call from CPS telling her that they were coming. They had grown into a family unit without meaning to.

Maria finally called Elisa into her office on Elisa's first night back to work. Maria wanted to let her know that they had finally located Liam's birth records. His mother hadn't even bothered to register his birth with a name on the certificate. According to his birth records at the county hospital, he was listed only as Baby Boy Miller.

Elisa wept inside for the precious boy who had become a part of their lives.

"Elisa," Maria began haltingly. "Are you sure that you still want to give him up?"

"No," Elisa replied. "But what are my options?"

"Adopt him."

Elisa let out a startled laugh, but Maria burst in. "That was not a joke. I have not heard you so excited about anything since your wedding. This may be your chance to have a child with Goliath, and we _both_ know how attached the Big Guy is getting to Liam by now."

Elisa smiled to herself. She had noticed the same thing.

"He's not a puppy, Maria," Elisa stated. "I can't just adopt him. Look at my life! My family! He would have gargoyles as extended family, a father who is a gargoyle, and would only be able to see them at night! Not to mention my work schedule. How would I be able to take care of a child?"

"Your parents did it," Maria snapped. "Your parents were working full time. Not to mention that your mother is african american, your father native american… and if you think _that_ was easy on them at that time being a mixed race couple, let me tell you that they had their challenges. People were not nice to them. All that aside, you kids are some of the best, well rounded people I know."

Feeling put in her place, Elisa wisely kept silent.

"I will personally go to bat for you," Maria offered after a moment. "Just ask yourself if you want to keep that precious baby, or if you could let him go. _**I**_ don't think you _**can**_ let him go. I will call in every favor that I have with me to ask for to get an adoption put through quickly and quietly if that is what you want."

Elisa hesitated the barest of moments, wishing that she could talk to Goliath first and knowing that her answer was going to change both of their lives.

In the end, there was really only one answer. Despite her protestations, it was surprisingly easy to make. Elisa pictured Liam as she had last seen him, sleeping peacefully on the sofa and covered with a blue fleece blanket.

"Yes," Elisa said firmly. "That is what I want."

Maria had a friend in the CPS, and called him immediately. Within an hour, he had brought the forms to the station that would approve Elisa of fostering the child in the current emergency situation.

The next day, Elisa had nagged her mother, Diane, and sister, Beth, into shopping for things to decorate his bedroom. They had gone hog wild in a baby boutique, then moved on to a hardware store for baby proofing supplies.

By the time that Goliath rose for the evening, he found his son sleeping happily in a bright blue room that had colorful zoo animals on the walls.

Goliath somehow knew, without Elisa having told him, what the choice had been. He had picked her up, twirling her around the room laughing. He had agreed with the plan wholeheartedly, and took his new family out for a glide to the castle to share the news with the clan. The clan had accepted the news with excitement and acceptance of their friend's newfound family.

Not long after, it was official. Liam Thomas Maza was legally Elisa's son. Elisa wished like hell that Goliath could have been listed on the adoption certificate, but that was just not possible.

Diane and Beth helped out as much as they could over the next few months. They would come over to Elisa's and watch over Liam during the day so that Elisa could get some uninterrupted sleep. Lexington and Angela helped out a lot at night, freeing Goliath up to help Elisa on her patrols.

Finally, Liam started sleeping for longer periods, and they were able to get his schedule turned around with the help of some blackout curtains in his windows. He began sleeping all day, and awake at night when his father was there. The added bonus to this, was that Liam was able to spend the nights hanging out with his friends at Castle Wyvern while Elisa was at work.

Liam had fit into their family unit with surprising little effort, and had a large family and extended family to spoil him rotten.

If ever there was a little boy who deserved to be doted on, it was their little Liam.

For better or worse, their lives were going to change.


	5. Chapter 4

_**It had**_ , Elisa thought now. Liam had changed everything. Adopting Liam had changed their lives for the better.

Now, here it was, six years later. She had a home, husband and a wonderful son.

Elisa dressed with care, choosing her clothing carefully. With Goliath, Elisa was cautious to dress with flight in mind. She didn't want to lose anything in mid-air like, say, her shoes. Her top. Or anything else embarrassing.

She chose an ice blue dress, reminiscent of the sun dress that she had worn on their first date. She chose a small black bag and habitually placed her phone, badge and wallet inside. Paired some strappy sandals that actually laced half way up her calves and were guaranteed not to come off, she was put together.

Giving in to a purely feminine moment, she used a curling iron to throw some loose curls into her hair, and a spritz of her favorite perfume. She loved being female, but working in the NYPD, even though she had busted her ass to get where she was, it was still very much a male dominated environment. There were those who had known her for years, some who had known her father and brother who had also served the NYPD, that still thought of her as a "pretty lady" first and an officer second.

New recruits or older men on the force, the "old boys" club was still very much in action within the NYPD.

In moments like this, however, she could indulge.

Elisa glanced at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, and gave her hair one last toss.

" _ **Just in time,"**_ She thought, glancing outside to where the sun had begun to set.

She made her way through her living room, and out to the large open courtyard that Fox Xanatos had designed and had built for her. The walls surrounding the yard were chest high to her, which came as a relief once Liam had started walking and getting into mischief. Stone seating areas surrounded a covered stone fire pit that provided light and warmth for everyone during the long winters in New York. Some of Liam's riding toys were left here and there, among which was his red tricycle that Goliath had spent hours with her trying to assemble last Christmas.

There were a few trees, unbelievably, and a few raised flowering beds of vegetation. Her condo was actually two stories tall on the top of the Jade Building, with courtyard access from the rooftop courtyard or an external set of stairs that led directly into her bedroom. The walls were covered in large glass windows that had remote controlled blinds in each room. It had been everything that she had been looking for a few years ago when she had been forced to look for a new place to live.

Elisa sat on one of the large stone benches and looked up into the sky. The clouds were brilliant with the pinks and oranges as the sun began setting. The sunlight tended to disappear quickly in Manhattan as the sun disappeared behind the towering stone buildings and skyscrapers of the city, but the lingering colors stained the sky for one of Mother Nature's more colorful displays.

Slowly, even those colors began to fade.

As the last rays of the sun faded and the first stars began to appear, the familiar sound of stone cracking met Elisa's ears.

Even after all these years, the sight of Goliath breaking free of his stone skin still made her heart leap. With a roar, he stretched and extended his wings, effectively knocking the last of the stone pieces and dust from his body.

As the last of his roar faded, Goliath draped his wings around his shoulders and turned to find his wife smiling at him and grinning.

"Good evening," He said solemnly and formally bowed.

"And to you, kind sir," Elisa joked back, curtsying. Goliath had taught her to do a deep curtsy as they had done a thousand years ago at the courts in Scotland. The fact that she was able to do so without falling over was a small victory.

He smiled and swooped her into his arms. "Happy anniversary," he whispered as he nuzzled the top of her head .

"Happy anniversary," Elisa whispered back, laying her head against his shoulder.

They stayed that way, content to just be together, for a few minutes before either one of them was ready to pull away.

Goliath lifted his head, and glanced around. "Where is Liam?"

Elisa chuckled. "He is staying with mom and dad for a couple of days."

Goliath looked down into her face and raised a brow. "He is not here?"

"Nope," Elisa confirmed.

The smile that spread across his features was one that she knew only too well. "I know that you had plans to go out, Elisa…"

Elisa winked at him, "Nothing that can't wait."

He leaned down and kissed her gently, carrying her back into their home.


	6. Chapter 5

Elisa and Goliath were laying together, holding each other and enjoying the time alone. They loved their son, but sometimes they really enjoyed the time alone.

They talked of things that had happened on their patrols, both when they were together or the few times they had had to separate. They spoke of their family and plans for both the near future and the far.

It was the pillow talk of those who had been together a long time.

Elisa had just gotten up to get something to nibble on, since they had not bothered with dinner, when her phone began ringing.

"No," Elisa groaned. "Whoever it is, better hope I am not armed next time we meet."

She was only half joking. Goliath and she had so precious few evenings like this.

Elisa felt around in the dark room for her small handbag that had her phone. The only light was coming from the windows, and she was having trouble locating the small black bag. She felt the gold chain of the bag's shoulder strap first, and traced the chain to the bag.

Whoever it was was tenacious, she'd give them that since they hadn't hung up yet.

She felt a brief flash of guilt. What if something was wrong with Liam? What if he was hurt, or sick, and she was worried about _herself_ and _her_ feelings.

Elisa grabbed the small phone out of her bag and answered it with a breathless, "Hello?"

"Maza," came Captain Chavez's voice.

"Captain," Elisa said, feeling a wave of relief that something wasn't wrong with her son.

"I am sorry to interrupt your night," Maria said, sounding genuinely sorry. "I have a situation that needs handling, and I am afraid that you are one of a handful of people that I can trust with this."

"Uh, sure," Elisa said, sending a puzzled frown towards Goliath. She mouthed the word " _ **Sorry"**_ before taking the phone into the bathroom with her so that she could finally grabbed that much needed drink of water.

"I am sure that you have heard about the small discrepancies in the narcotics locker log." Maria began. She was all business now, so Elisa responded in kind.

"Yes, Captain."

"We finally got a lead, and you are not going to like it."

"What?" Elisa asked.

"It's a cop," Maria said. "Because of it being an officer, I need someone to follow him and find out where he is taking the narcotics."

Elisa's head fell forward. She had heard of the issues in the Narcotics evidence rooms, but had assumed it had been someone's error when logging the items into the storage until they were needed for their court cases. After they were used in court, the drugs were disposed of...

Or, they were supposed to be. Over the last few months, the amount that left the locker and the amount that actually reached the disposal facility hadn't matched.

In one case, they were short an entire brick of cocaine.

Everyone had made noise about someone miscounting. Someone writing down the wrong weight or transposing the numbers in the evidence log.

No one had wanted to admit that one of their own had been stealing the drugs.

But now…

"What can I do, captain?" Elisa asked angrily.

"I need you and your husband to do a little recon for me. Find out where he goes and call it in. I will have a few other officers that I trust meet you there and you can make the arrest."

"Alright," Elisa said with a sigh.

"Maza," the police captain said with an aggravated sigh. "I hate like hell that this had to happen tonight. You do this for me tonight, and I will get you Halloween night off."

Elisa felt the surprise cross her face. "You sure, cap?"

"You do this tonight, and I will guarantee you that one."

Elisa felt a smile go across her face. "Done." Halloween off? The only night of the year when Elisa and Goliath could walk down the street arm and arm, and no one would cast a second look.

"Get here as soon as you can." Maria ordered. "The officer in question will be coming back from his lunch break in an hour, and we have set out a variety of packages in the locker that he will hopefully not be able to resist."

"I'll be there soon." Eisa promised.

"Have your husband bring you," Maria suggested. "It would be quicker and easier to track the suspect later."

Elisa hung up the phone with a sigh. Now to break the news to Goliath…

She need not have worried. He had heard enough of her side of the conversation to understand that their alone time was at an end.

When Elisa returned to the room, He was on his feet and waiting for her.

Elisa looked at him sheepishly. "Sorry, Big Guy."

Her husband reached out and caressed the side of her face. "I treasure our time alone together, and I love you Elisa. _My_ Elisa," he drew her into his arms. "One of the things I fell in love with is your protective spirit and your dedication to seeing justice carried through for those around you. I would not want you to sit idly by if a situation arises where you are needed."

Elisa smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug. "Thank you, Goliath."

"Now," he pushed her back far enough to look her lingerie covered body over once. "You may want to put on something a little more…"

Elisa blushed, and walked to her closet. Throwing on a white tee shirt, blue jeans, a sturdy pair of boots and her favorite red jacket and she was almost ready to go. Elisa took the time to gather her badge, wallet and her shoulder holster. She unlocked the two safes in her room, gathered her gun from one and a clip of bullets from the other.

Once she was ready to go, she and Goliath were off, gliding on the air currents toward the 23rd precinct building.


	7. Chapter 6

Elisa and Goliath landed on the roof of the 23rd precinct house a short time later.

There were times when Elisa really missed the old station building. The old clock tower that had sat on top of the station had become a home for the Gargoyle clan for a couple of years. Until the Hunters had targeted it in an effort to eliminate the clan.

The resulting damage in both property and humans was a good reason why the Canmore siblings were going to be doing such a long stint in the state prison…

To be fair, both Jason and Robyn would be up for release soon. Jon, not so much. Jon had gone off the deep end, kidnapping Elisa and trying to use her as bait to kill the rest of the clan… Goliath especially, as he held Goliath responsible for Jason's being injured. In reality, it was Jon who was responsible for his brother's paralysis.

Then, there was the kidnapping incident outside of the bar…

Matt, Xanatos and a few others that Elisa didn't know, had decided that Jon was a serious danger. Various members of the illuminati had arranged for an extended stay for the youngest Canmore in a maximum security prison that was in an unknown location. She had heard stories of a few of the Illuminati locations, the Hotel Cabal for one, and Elisa felt it was best to not ask questions about where he was.

She had asked once, and was given an assurance that he was alive and healthy, even if he wasn't mentally stable. That was good enough for her.

Elisa shook her head once, sharply, dismissing the memories of the past in favor of the present.

Goliath seemed to sense where her mind had wandered, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"We've come a long way, Big Guy." Elisa said.

"Yes."

Elisa dug her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Maria's direct line. Two rings later, and Maria picked up.

"We're here," Elisa said.

"Good to hear," Maria said, and that was all.

Elisa hesitated. "Is he there?"

"Yes, ma'am," Maria answered, sounding all the world like she was talking to a civilian on the telephone.

"Do you have your communicator?" Elisa asked.

"Yes, I do."

"Put it in as soon as you get a chance," Elisa said. "It will be easier and quieter for us to communicate with."

"I will certainly look into that," Maria responded, sounding almost bored.

"Talk to you soon, Maria."

"Have a good night, ma'am."

Elisa chuckled as she hung up the phone. "Ma'am?"

Goliath laughed.

"She called me 'Ma'am'" Elisa laughed. "That must have killed her. She hates calling people ma'am."

Goliath chuckled quietly. He put one foot on the edge of the building and started scanning the area around them.

"Elisa?"

Elisa jumped a little at the sudden call in her ear. "Yeah, chief."

"We had some cameras in the evidence room, and I have gotten the confirmation that he took the bait." Maria said. "It's up to you guys to follow him."

"Who, exactly, is 'him'?" Elisa asked.

"Officer Scott."

Elisa was shocked. "Are you… No, you must be sure," Elisa caught herself. "Sorry, but… Scott?"

"I know," Maria said sadly. "If I hadn't seen the camera footage, I wouldn't have believed it, either."

"Wow," Elisa said softly. "Alright. We will follow him and see where he takes the stuff."

Elisa looked at Goliath. "We're looking for a younger guy, kind of reddish blonde hair."

"He's carrying his gym bag." Maria tossed into the description.

Goliath began scanning the traffic in and out of the station.

"There," Elisa pointed. "That's him."

Goliath nodded, following the man with his eyes. Once the man in question had tossed the gym bag into his car and started the engine, Goliath scooped Elisa into his arms and took to the air. Elisa was keeping the Captain updated as far as their location as they soared.

Finally, the officer turned into an older brick home that had its windows covered in layers of newspaper. The officer got out of the car, grabbed the small duffle bag and walked into the building.

Goliath gently landed on the roof of the building across the street, letting Elisa down beside him.

Elisa let Maria know the address, and received the reply that a few units were on the way.

Maria had the units talking to each other via cell phone in order to avoid Officer Scott overhearing on the police radio channels.

"Can you get close enough to see what he's doing in there?" Maria asked.

"I can try," Elisa said. "What I can see is pretty run down, boarded and covered up. I will see if I can't get in closer."

Goliath growled softly.

Elisa put her hand on his arm. "I need your help, Big Guy. Until the other good guys get here, I'm going to need you up on the roof to keep an eye out in case they try to run."

"Elisa," He said in a low warning.

"I'll be fine." She hurried to reassure him. "I just need to take a peek, see if there's a window or something I can look through. We need to have an idea what we are walking in to."

Goliath nodded. He did not like it, but he understood it. He placed his hands under her arms and glided close enough to the ground to put her gently on her feet. He caught a slight updraft and allowed it to take him high enough for him to get to the rooftop of the old house.

He folded his wings close, and knelt down to stay as hidden as he could while watching out for his wife. He abhorred the need for her to have to take such risks, even as he understood it at the same time.

Elisa ran to the house in a crouch, taking her time and making as little noise as was possible. As she had expected, the windows in the front were completely covered. She huffed a frustrated breath. "Front windows are completely covered. I am going to make my way around the North side and see if there is anything there."

"Be careful Maza," Captain Chavez's voice over loud and clear.

Elisa crept her way around the side of the building, and found only more of the same. "Damn it," she swore in frustration. If they had to go in blind, it could potentially go very bad for everyone. "I'm going to keep looking."

She continued to the rear of the building and found one corner, of one window, where the paper had come loose enough that she could see a good portion of what was probably a dining room. She could see kitchen appliances through a doorway in the back of the room. There were beakers, tubes and bunsen burners as far as she could see.

"Jesus," Elisa breathed. "Goliath, get off of this house and onto a different rooftop."

"What is going on?" The Chief demanded.

"I'm looking at what could potentially be the most crowded Meth Lab I have ever seen. Clutter and open flames everywhere. This is a prime candidate for blowing sky high."

"Could you see how many people are in there?"

"At least two," Elisa said. "I can't hear voices, but I only see two shadows moving."

"Your backup is less than a minute away. They are running silent, so no lights or sirens obviously."

"Alright," Elisa said. "Let them know that I am in the back by the rear entrance, can you?"

"I've been relaying the information to them as you gave it to me, but I will have someone come around and join you."

"Thanks for the heads up," Elisa said. "You hear that one, Goliath?"

"Yes," came the rumbling reply.

"Okay," Elisa said, taking a breath. She still had her gun out and ready, lowered in front of herself in case of an emergency. "Let me know when they get here."

Elisa kept her gaze on that one corner of the window.

"They are here," Goliath said. "There are two at the side of the house, but only one is coming around the side towards you."

"Thanks, Goliath." Elisa was thankful for the heads up.

To make herself more visible to the incoming officers, she took off her dark red jacket , leaving her in her white shirt.

She was prepared when the officer came around the corner.

The officer nodded a silent greeting to her. Elisa returned the gesture, and together they waited. They were to watch the rear of the building, crouching on either side of the rear door in case of someone making a break for it.

There was the sound of splintering wood as the police in the front broke the door down. Cries of "NYPD", "Get down" and "Put your hands up" rang through the quiet night.

Elisa and the unknown officer stayed still and silent while the team inside went from room to room and cleaning house of anyone in the house.

"Two in custody," came the radio call. "All Clear."

Elisa gratefully dropped her gun. Her arms were stiff and a little sore from holding it in her two handed ready stance for so long. It was a relief to let loose the tension in her arms. Elisa looked up just in time to see Goliath's form visibly relax.

Now that the situation was under control, She turned to look at the officer and recognized him with a start. "Hey Carver."

Officer Brandon Carver was short for a man, spiky blonde hair, a goofy smile and a face full of freckles. He looked like he was in high school, but Elisa knew he was actually in his mid twenties. While he wasn't a rookie, was still new and had just come to the 23rd precinct. He had transferred from another precinct, making it known that he wanted to work his way up to detective someday. He had cornered Elisa one day and quizzed her so hard that Elisa felt as if she had just re-taken the qualification test herself. He was hungry, determined and knew exactly what he wanted…

He reminded Elisa of herself. She had done something similar when she had joined the force and had become something of a legend for years as the youngest person within the NYPD to test into becoming a detective.

If Carver continued the pace he had going, he very well may beat her record.

"Detective Maza," He said with a grin. "I didn't see your car. You need a ride back to the station?"

"Yeah, I'd better get a ride," Elisa said. "I'll catch a ride home from there."

The slight, almost inaudible _whoosh_ of Goliath taking flight caught her ears.

"I will meet you there, Elisa." His voice rumbled into her ears.

Elisa removed her communicator, powering it off before tucking it into the pocket of her jeans. Carver got to his feet with a stretch and a groan. Elisa knew that she may well need to do some stretching when she got up herself. She had been crouching there longer than he had.

Carver straightened up, offering her his hand so that he could help her to her feet. Elisa thanked him, and accepted the help up.

One minute he was standing in front of her, grinning that dopey grin…

The next, a gunshot shattered the night.


	8. Chapter 7

Elisa blinked in stunned silence for a split second, then reacted instinctively.

She swung her double handed grip up and took aim at the dark figure in front of her. "Freeze!" She shouted. "Drop the weapon!"

Elisa needn't have bothered, and the gun had fallen to the ground. The shooter was dressed in dark colors, so it was hard to make out anything other than a vague outline and shadowy features.

Suddenly, the little light from the streetlights on the street glinted off of the silver badge on the man's shirt.

She met the surprised gaze of an officer that she didn't recognize.

Elisa treated it like any other shooting instinctively. She never lowered her weapon, and began barking orders.

"Get on the ground," She shouted to him.

When he didn't move, Elisa started yelling louder to get the other officers in the front of the buildings attention.

"I said, get down on the ground, hands behind your head!" Elisa shouted.

Keeping an eye on the man in her sights, she began shouting, "Officer down!"

She was rewarded with the sound of running feet.

"Get down!" came another familiar voice. Officer Morgan, a twenty year vet on the force, was walking up behind the officer who had done the shooting. He kicked the gun away, towards Elisa. "On the ground!"

The unknown officer knelt down slowly.

Morgan didn't mess with it. He had the guy flat on the ground, hands cuffed behind his back in no time at all.

"Damn it," Elisa yelled. She holstered her own weapon, and was kneeling beside Carver in the space of a heartbeat.

"Officer Down." Morgan called into his shoulder mounted radio. "We have an officer down with a G.S.W. to the chest."

Elisa went on autopilot after that. She applied pressure to the wound, shouting orders to the officers all around her. Morgan dealt with the shooter, another officer was using an evidence bag to collect the shooter's gun. A couple of the officers had to go to the front to stay with the people who had been arrested, but the rest were trying to encourage Carver into hanging on until the Ambulance got there.

Sirens sounded in the distance, letting the officers know that they were close.

Carver let out a gurgling breath, and suddenly… Nothing.

"Shit." Elisa swore heatedly. "Someone go flag those EMTs down!"

A couple of the officers ran to the front to do just that.

"Morgan," Elisa called out the first name she could think of, looking around for his familiar face.

"He's out front," Another unfamiliar officer said, kneeling beside her. "What do you need?"

"Put your hands here, and apply pressure."

The man put his hands on his fallen comrade without hesitation.

Elisa changed positions and began CPR, alternating between compressions and forcing breath into Carver's lungs.

During the compressions, she kept up a litany of encouragement and insults. Anything to try for a response.

"Here they come," Someone called out.

Elisa was only vaguely aware of what they had said, so focused on her task as she was.

"We have him," a woman's voice came beside Elisa. She glanced over and spotted the bright white of the EMT uniform.

Elisa moved, and the medical technicians fully took over. The woman who had spoken to Elisa took over the chest compressions while another tech placed an oxygen bag over the young officer's mouth and nose.

Elisa backed up a few steps, not taking her gaze off of the young man who had been so determined to be a detective.

No one had to tell her. God help her, but she already knew he was gone . The EMTs made a valiant effort, but nothing could be done.

She saw the moment that the EMTs realized it too. As one, they stopped their work and sat back. They wouldn't meet any of the officer's eyes around them.

"We will take him to Manhattan General," the female tech quietly told Elisa. "If you want, I can call his station house and have someone sent to notify his family."

Elisa blinked. "He's from the 23rd precinct. I will tell the captain when I get there."

The tech tilted her head and looked at Elisa closely. "Maybe you should come with us, officer."

Elisa looked at the Tech blankly.

"Are you sure that none of that blood is yours?" The tech pushed. She put a gentle hand on Elisa's back and began guiding her to the ambulance. "Come on, officer. We need to check you over for injuries."

Elisa didn't protest. What could she say at that point? She was fine. She could get out and race the ambulance on foot to the hospital.

But Carver couldn't.

Elisa sighed, and laid her head back against the side of the ambulance.

"Detective," Morgan called softly, handing Elisa her forgotten coat. "You might want this."

"Thanks," Elisa said emotionlessly. She could hear it in her voice, that distance and tightly held control.

It was a comfort, in a way, knowing that she still had that much control over what was happening. Everything else was so far out of her control that she was afraid to look outside of herself.

For now.

"Officer," the female paramedic broke into Elisa's reflections. "Let's take a look at you now." She offered Elisa a hand to help her into the back of the ambulance and onto the gurney.

The EMTs discovered that she had, indeed been injured. Despite being non-life threatening, they took her to the hospital with full lights and sirens for treatment.

At the hospital, it was discovered that Elisa had been nicked by the bullet after it had passed through Carver. The bullet had gone through Carver's left lung, tore a hole in the sac around his heart, and out the other side where it had carved a large groove in Elisa's upper left arm.

With everything going on at the time, she hadn't even noticed it.

It had required ten stitches to close it.

Elisa sat on the bed in the ER, feeling strangely numb. ' _ **Shock,'**_ Elisa corrected herself.

"Can I go now?" Elisa asked as the doctor finished bandaging her arm.

"Let me write you a prescription for the antibiotics and a painkiller."

"No," Elisa shook her head. "I don't need a painkiller."

"You might need it tomorrow," the doctor was insisting.

"I. Do. Not. Need. A. Painkiller." Elisa said through gritted teeth.

The doctor threw his hands into the air. "Fine. I will write the prescriptions, and you can choose to fill them or not."

Elisa stood up as he left, slowly putting her jacket back on. She looked a little less like she belonged in a horror movie with it on. The blood, both hers and Carver's, blended into the red of her jacket and the brown of her boots. Her white shirt was toast, but the jacket could cover most of it if she zipped it up.

There was no hope for hiding her jeans. Everything from her thighs to her knees were spotted with blood. From her knees down, she looked as if she had been kneeling in a puddle of blood.

Elisa sighed. There was no help for it now. She had to get back to the precinct and talk to Maria. Make her report.

She had to talk to Goliath.

 _ **Shit!**_ Elisa froze in the sudden dawning horror. How much did Goliath know about what happened after he had left her at the scene?

Did he know anything, or was he still sitting at the station wondering where she was?

If ever there was anything that could snap her back to reality, it was that Goliath.

A nurse came in with her first round of antibiotic pills, and Elisa hurriedly tossed them back in her sudden anxiousness to get out of there.

When the doctor returned with the prescription and release papers, she practically grabbed them out of the doctor's hand and started running. She wanted to get outside so that she could at least talk to Goliath via communicator, but was stopped in the waiting area.

There was wall to wall officers who had come for word on their injured officers.

They had gotten word of Carver, but they were staying to support her. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered her, but she was in a hurry to get somewhere where she could contact her husband without being surrounded by people...

She tried waving off everyone's concerns, and finally gave up. They weren't going to stop.

A familiar redhead caught her attention. "Matt," she called out frantically.

Matt turned and had such a look of relief on his face, she knew she was going to have trouble. "Matt, what the hell?" A feeling of dread had started settling in her gut, making her anxiousness level rise.

"Elisa, I have got to tell you," He said, dropping his voice in hopes that the minimal amount of people would overhear. "Your husband is here and about to start tearing the walls of the hospital down."

Elisa reached in her jacket pocket, and pressed the communicator into his hands. "Go. Tell him that I am alright." Elisa urged. "Then you come back and get me out of here."

Matt frowned a little, but did as she wanted. He turned, making his way through the crowded waiting area to the door outside.

A few minutes later, he came back in. He found her surrounded by well meaning officers, made their excuses and ushered her out to his car. "Goliath is going to follow us back to your building. On his orders, and yes, I _**am**_ going to follow them, I am to get you into the elevator, and to your floor safely. He will meet you at the door."

"Matt, I have to go make a report at the station about what happened." She reminded him.

"Not tonight," Matt said firmly. "Captain's orders. You can do it tomorrow if you insist, otherwise I am to tell you that if you type up an informal report in an email and send it to the captain, that will be enough for now until you get back to work and can make a formal statement."

Elisa nodded, oddly grateful that she didn't have to face any more of her fellow officers that night.

"Thank you," Elisa said, with a tired sigh. "Take me home, then."


	9. Chapter 8

It was a long, tense ride back to the Jade Building. Neither of the car's occupants said a word during the long drive across Manhattan.

Elisa was aware that Matt was angry. He had held it in admirably, but the longer they were in the car, the more she could almost feel his temper rising. Matt was pretty even tempered, so it took a lot to make him blow his top…

After a couple of years working together, Elisa sensed that he was rapidly getting to that point, but was clueless on how to stop it.

In the end, she didn't have the energy to worry about him _and_ Goliath.

True to his word, Matt got her on to the elevator.

It was there that Elisa realized that she didn't have the elevator security key necessary to get to her condo. She had expected to be returning home with Goliath, so hadn't thought about actually bringing her keys.

When she told Matt this, she thought he was going to put his fist through a wall in frustration.

He stormed over to the security guard's station and asked if there was any way that he could help. The security guard took one look at her, at her bloody clothing, and rushed toward her offering his help. After Elisa verified who she was, and promised that Matt was a friend and not some creepy stalker, the guard activated the penthouse level on the keypad with his own set of keys.

"Thank you," Elisa said, grateful to finally be so close to home.

Matt was staying silent, but Elisa could see the muscle twitch in his jaw that only happened when he reached his anger limit. If anything happened after this point, he would explode.

Right there.

In the lobby.

Before the elevator made it to the ground floor.

"Matt, What…."

"Shut up," Matt snapped. "Next time I hear an officer down call from your location, I want to hear your voice behind it letting everyone know that it was _**not**_ you."

Elisa opened her mouth to ask what had happened, but Matt glared her into silence. Because they were still in the lobby, he kept his voice low, but no less angry. "Here is how the situation happened. First, there was the "all clear". Suddenly, there was an "Officer Down" call. Next thing I know, Captain Chavez is a mess because Goliath is on the roof without you and you never showed up at the station. And _**then**_ we hear that two officers were taken to the hospital. One dead on arrival from a gunshot, the other was wounded at the site and was being taken to the ER."

Elisa wisely held her tongue as Matt continued. "You can only imagine how it felt to hear that the officers who went to the hospital were both from the 23rd. We knew that there was one female and one male, but we didn't know who was alive, and who was dead. The reports coming in were scattered and no one at the station could figure out who was alive and who was dead, but there had only been one female officer on the scene. You."

Elisa hung her head. "Damn it," she swore harshly.

"Oh, don't start swearing yet," Matt said. "because here is the fun part. The hospital was withholding the names until families could be notified. While this was all going on, Captain Chavez forgot she was wearing one of your communicators, so Goliath was getting the whole confused situation before any of us had the whole story. Then he comes and gets _**me**_ , while I was investigating a B and E nearby, and tells me that I need to come with him because he doesn't know if you are alive or not."

Elisa went to run her hands over her face and winced visibly at the movement and grabbed at her injured shoulder.

Matt looked surprised for a moment. "What's wrong with your shoulder?"

Elisa sent him a withering look. "Oh, can I talk now?"

Matt glared at her.

The elevator bell rang, letting them know that it had finally gotten to the ground floor. The two of them walked into the elevator car and waited for the doors to shut before they continued their "discussion".

"Matt, seriously, you are pissing me off big time right now."

"Good," Matt said. "That would be a vast improvement to this pale helpless weakling you have looked like since I saw you at the hospital. Get angry and fight back!" he demanded. "Talk and get it all out. Start with you being hurt."

Elisa clenched her jaw. "Fine. You want to hear about it? All of it?"

"That would be nice," Matt snarked.

Elisa unzipped her coat, wincing a little as she moved her injured shoulder again. Letting it drop from her shoulders straight to the floor, she finally revealed the sheer amount of the blood on her shirt. Sure, there was plenty of the dark, dried blood on her jeans, but it was something else entirely to see the whole picture.

It made her feel better when he visibly blanched, but she didn't have any pity left in her. She turned so that Matt got a look at her bandaged arm.

"Small open wound, requiring a few stitches," Elisa reported in a deadpan voice. "The bullet that killed Carver went through him and caught my arm, because he was helping me to my feet at the time he was shot."

Elisa gestured to her jeans. "This is all Carver's blood. I was kneeling beside him, applying pressure to the bullet wound for a few minutes. Until he stopped breathing. I got another officer to hold the wound then, and I performed CPR until the ambulance got there."

Matt ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "Jesus," He muttered.

"The worst part?" Elisa spat out, "The absolute worst part of it all, is that is was one of our guys that did it."

That made Matt pause. "What?"

"It was another cop who shot Carver," Elisa said. She looked Matt in the eyes then, "The 'all clear' had been called out. The bad guys were in custody."

"Then what happened?" Matt asked.

Elisa shook her head. "I don't know." She answered. "But someone is going to need to question him and find out why. Carver's family is going to want… and they deserve… answers."

Matt nodded gravely. "I'll go see what I can find out as soon as you are safely inside."

"Thanks, Matt."

The elevator bell dinged once to let them know they had reached it's destination.

"G'night," Elisa muttered, picking her jacket up off of the floor. She didn't bother putting it back on, since she would have to try to have it cleaned tomorrow in order to keep the stains from setting any more than they already had.

"I'll let you know what I find," Mat said.

Elisa heard the doors close behind her. Taking a steady breath, she walked forward and tried her door knob.

It was time to face the music, and apologize to her husband for the confusion.


	10. Chapter 9

Once more, she realized she didn't have the necessary keys to get inside.

Mentally swearing, she knocked loudly.

The door was opened roughly, and held open for her to enter.

Goliath waited behind the door, out of sight, but met her just inside the apartment. With the door closed firmly behind Elisa, he scooped her up roughly in his arms and held her tightly.

Elisa didn't protest. She didn't even think about it.

She held him as tightly as she could in return. It had been a close call for her tonight, and finally being in her husband's arms was bringing that thought home.

"I'm so sorry, Goliath," Elisa murmured quietly.

"I was so afraid that I had lost you," Goliath whispered against her hair. "I had just landed at the station and was speaking to Maria when everything had started happening."

"I heard," Elisa admitted. "Matt gave me an earful on the way up. I am so sorry."

He hadn't bothered turning on the lights when he had entered the apartment, and now led her through the dark living room and into the kitchen. Seating her in a chair, he turned around to switch the lights on.

He turned and gasped. The room had been dark, and so he was seeing the blood stains for the first time. "Are you injured?" He began running his hands over her legs.

"Just my arm," Elisa said softly. "Most of this isn't mine, Goliath."

Goliath looked up and saw the deep sadness in her eyes. Something bad had happened, possibly worse than he had expected and he could see that much in her eyes. He had heard that an officer might have died, but he really didn't know how bad the situation had been.

He lifted her from the chair carefully, carrying her to their oversized bathroom. He turned the faucet in the antique claw footed tub, letting the warm water fill the tub. While the bathtub filled, he helped Elisa out of the clothing that had dried to her skin. Elisa helped as much as she could , but the pulling sensation on her stitched arm was starting to hurt.

"Damn," Elisa swore angrily.

"What is wrong?" Goliath asked, concerned.

"I didn't stop and get my prescription filled." Elisa groaned, pulling the paper with her prescriptions written on them from her jeans pocket. She shoved them back in the pocket, making a mental note to take care of them in the morning. "I didn't want to take the time to stop."

"What do you need?"

Elisa sighed. She hated taking pain pills. They left her feeling spacey, and unable to take care of herself, let alone those around her. However, with Liam being taken care of for the night, she would have felt safe taking at least one for the moment.

"I can just take a couple of ibuprofen for now, and stop by the pharmacy tomorrow morning," Elisa attempted to shrug it off. "I'll be fine."

Goliath frowned. He loved Elisa, but she was the most stubborn female he had ever met...

And he had been married to Demona once upon a time, so that was saying something.

Elisa took a bottle out of her medicine cabinet and shook out two orange colored tablets and swallowed them with a small glass of water.

Goliath then helped Elisa clean as much of the blood off as he could beforehand with a washcloth. With that done, and the bathtub filled with clean, steaming water, he helped her into the bathtub. Grabbing an extra towel from the small linen closet, he placed it on the ledge for her to rest her injured arm on so that it didn't get wet.

Elisa laid down into the warm water gratefully, watching Goliath pick up the discarded clothing.

"I will take care of these," He said, closing the bathroom door behind him.

Elisa sank in as far as she could without getting her wound wet. This was not the first time that she had lost a fellow officer. This wasn't even the first time that she had been present for it. No one had ever said being a police officer was easy, or safe for that matter.

If she wanted safe, she would have used her psychology degree to become a psychologist.

Losing a "brother" on the force was never easy. There were going to be some long days ahead. Questions to ask and answer as best as she could. Family of the fallen to contact.

Elisa closed her eyes. There would be an inquiry within the department, meaning that everyone involved would be called to stand in front of a committee and have to relive the event. Procedures would be called into question, and blame would have to be placed somewhere.

Then there was the officer who had actually pulled the trigger.

Elisa hadn't recognized him. This wasn't really a surprise, as there were hundreds of officers in Manhattan. Elisa made a point of trying to at least meet all of the people at her station at least once, but couldn't recall this officer. He may have been new, straight out of the academy and out to make a name for himself.

Those were the most dangerous rookies to be around. They were loose cannons, you just never knew what they were going to do.

Elisa slowly became aware of the time that had passed. Her water had cooled off, and she carefully rose to her feet. She pulled the plug so that the water could drain away. Toweling off quickly, she grabbed her thick fleecy robe that she saved for colder nights.

Opening the door, she called out for Goliath. There was no sign of him or her dirty clothes, she realized.

Where had he gone?

Elisa wandered into the kitchen and rooted around for something to eat. Goliath and she had missed having dinner, and she was in need of fuel.

There was not that much time left before the sun rose, and she wanted to spend what was left of it with her husband. All of this put a crimp in their anniversary plans, but there was still a little time left.

And she wanted to focus on the good for the rest of the night.

Tomorrow would bring on a whole new set of problems.

The sound of the sliding doors caught her attention as she gave the steaks a final turn.

"Great timing, Big guy," Elisa called out. "I'm just about done."

Goliath's hand on her shoulder made her jump and turn to face him.

He held out his hands. He held a sling in one hand, and in the center of his other palm lay two small bottles. Elisa looked at him, confused.

"Dr. James was able to fill your medications, and gave me a sling for your injured arm."

Elisa felt her eyes well up. "It has been a hell of a night, Goliath. I am so sorry that this messed up our anniversary."

"Elisa," Goliath set the medicine bottles on the counter. He gathered Elisa into his arms and wrapped his wings around them both in a double embrace. "I am not concerned about any plans that either of us may have made. I am just happy that you are alive and in my arms."

Elisa sniffled. "I really am sorry about how it all went down. Nothing like that should have happened."

"Still, I think it will be a while before I let you out of my sight when we are patrolling."

"Fair enough," Elisa said.

"Now," Goliath released her reluctantly. "The doctor said that you are to take these medicines with food."

Elisa gave a watery laugh and dashed a hand across her eyes. "One dinner, coming up!"

Once the meal had been devoured, Goliath firmly pushed the bottles of medicine at Elisa. Knowing she did not like to take any kind of painkillers stronger than aspirin or ibuprofen, he kept a close eye on her until he was certain that she had taken both pills. He helped her maneuver her arm into the sling to try to keep her from accidentally tearing her stitches.

They went outside and sat together talking the rest of the night. He had sensed sunrise's approach when Elisa started weaving sleepily.

Knowing the pills were taking effect, he scooped Elisa up and carried her up the outdoor set of stairs to the main bedroom on the top floor. He helped remove the sling, laid her gently in the center of the bed, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Good night, My Elisa."

"G'night," Elisa replied blurrily.

Goliath covered her with the quilt from the foot of her bed and took his leave.

He moved to his usual position in the courtyard just in time. As the first rays of daylight began to color the sky, Goliath's skin began to crackle and harden.

Moments later, Goliath was in the deep stone sleep of the Gargoyles.


	11. Chapter 10

Elisa slept deeply for most of the day. She woke up stiff and sore, hungry and more than a little disoriented. Stumbling to the bathroom, Elisa vowed that she was not going to take the pain medication again. Liam would be home tonight, and she couldn't afford to be out of it when he was home.

Her injury really wasn't that bad, she told herself. Nothing a few over the counter pain relievers couldn't handle.

Elisa found her red leather coat where Goliath had hung it up the night before. Carefully, Elisa tried to clean the blood spots off with the aid of a leather cleaner that she had picked up on a whim a few weeks before, The coat would still need a professional cleaning, but it actually was not bad for now.

It was damp, but it would be wearable without scaring people.

Once she had run a brush through her hair and dressed for the day, she wrestled her way back into the sling and walked downstairs to the living room. Beside the sofa, next to her phone on a small table, her answering machine message light was blinking a steady rhythm.

Resigned, she hit the playback button. The first message was from Matt. He had wanted to check up on her when he was leaving the station last night from meeting with Captain Chavez on Elisa's behalf. Message two was from Captain Chavez, herself, this morning. She was letting Elisa know that the Internal Affairs and Conduct panel was meeting that evening in a special session to discuss the mess from the night before.

The third message made Elisa cringe. It was her father, and he was not a happy camper. He had been listening to the police radio out of habit, and _**guess**_ what he had overheard?

Elisa groaned. Great. Just great.

Her father went on to tell her that he had gotten a hold of Officer Morgan who had filled him in on what had happened… or as much as he could without getting in any kind of trouble. What Morgan hadn't told him, he had browbeat out of Maria. While he sympathized, Elisa was to call her parents as soon as she could to let them know that she was alright.

Oh, and don't worry about Liam. Diane was only too happy to keep him for one more night so that Elisa could get an extra day to rest up.

With a sigh, Elisa picked up the phone and prepared for battle.

What she got, however, was her father giving her a pep talk and someone she could talk to who _understood_. He was a thirty year NYPD veteran, and had actually been through the proceedings that followed a fellow officer's death. It was a whole new ball game when it was an officer who shot another officer.

He understood Elisa's feelings completely.

He had some helpful advice about how to handle the following inquiry.

They ended their phone call by talking about Liam and his exploits at her parent's house. He had found the giant tub of sidewalk chalk that Diane had bought and decorated the house. Floors, walls and (eventually) the sidewalks were all decorated in the childish drawing and writings of her precocious little boy. Peter had delighted Liam in taking him on his first horseback ride that had him so hyper the rest of the day that he had completely crashed a little early and slept the whole night through.

Elisa found herself smiling at her son's exploits, and wishing she could have seen him on top of his first horse. There was plenty of time, however, to take him again.

For the moment, Peter urged his daughter to take her medications and rest up while she could.

When the call ended, Elisa sank onto the sofa. She missed Liam, but was almost thankful that he was going to be at her parent's house for one more night.

Elisa looked at the clock, realizing that she had three hours before the meeting at the station with the I.A. committee. She cooked herself a fried egg sandwich and took her antibiotic. She was in no way hurt enough to take the painkiller, opting for another round of Ibuprofen.

She dressed with care, in a pair of black dress pants and a button up red collared shirt. Before leaving, she wrote Goliath a note, letting him know where she would be, in case he rose before she got home. She also let him know that Liam would not be home until the following evening. If she was finished with the meeting after sunset, she would meet him at the castle.

Elisa was anxious to look in on the clan and see how they were doing. It was rare for her not to see at least a few other members of the clan on a nightly basis. Last night had been a special occasion, so they had probably stayed clear of Elisa's apartment.

Tonight, however, Elisa wanted to look in on Angela and the hatchlings. Since she had the night off, herself, she was thinking about giving Angela some time to herself without those two adorable little hellions running around.

Once she was finished, she grabbed her wallet and stuffed it in the pocket of her still damp red jacket . She dialed Matt and asked for a ride to the precinct. While she had not taken any more of the pain medication, the lingering woozy feeling made her nervous to drive.

Matt was there to pick her up 10 minutes later, taking her straight to the station.

Elisa and Matt usually had some sort of conversation going between them, no matter how insane , because neither liked silence while driving around for work.

Elisa could count on one hand the times that silence had been between them. It usually involved an argument.

For once, however, they made the drive in a silence that didn't involve one being angry at the other.

Both knew the reason that she was being called in to this meeting.

Elisa was being called before the committee as a witness to the actions of a fellow police officer. While the officer in question was guilty of the act itself, it was hard for an officer to have to go before the committee. To be a witness against another officer when it meant not only their livelihood, but possible jail time or worse...

Matt dropped her off in front of the station house. He had to go train a new group of the Gargoyle Task Force that night, otherwise he would have stayed with her.

"I will be back as soon as I can break away so that I can give you a ride home after you're done." He promised before leaving.

Elisa stood outside the station, her eyes looking up at the impressive building. Out of an old habit, her eyes found their way to the very top where the old clock tower had once been. She missed it sometimes, knowing that the clan would be there where she could just pop up there and visit.

She took a steadying breath before beginning to climb the stairs up to the main entrance. Her eyes involuntarily found the American flag that had been lowered to half mast. It would have been that way since the report of Officer Carver's passing, Elisa knew. Elisa forced her eyes away and opened the door to the station with more force than was necessary.

There is a phrase within the law enforcement community about a "Blue Wall". It is a phrase that refers to the large group of officers, fire and rescue personnel who will show up in uniform when one of their own has been injured. Doctors and Nurses refer to this as the Blue Wall, because when an officer is down, the sheer number of people in blue uniforms create an almost impassable roadblock in the waiting areas and hallways.

It was a show of support. Of community and an elite "brotherhood" of those who have dedicated their lives to the welfare of those around them and justice for those who can't get it for themselves.

Elisa had been part of the wall before, but never the recipient of such support.

Until now.

Elisa entered the noisy squad room to find it wall to wall officers in their blue dress uniforms. Quite a few of those who were there were like Elisa, plainclothes officers and investigators. People who didn't wear their Dress Blues until they were ordered to.

On this night, everyone was pressed and dressed.

The moment Elisa walked into the squadroom, silence began taking over the once noisey scene. Almost as if one mind, the officers stopped whatever task they were doing and got to their feet. There were a lot of familiar faces there, some not so familiar who were actually there from other precincts, and some who Elisa could swear that she had never seen before.

Elisa was the recipient of back slaps, handshakes and condolences. Some thanked her for working so hard to try to save a fallen officer, and some were there to simply wish her a speedy recovery.

Elisa forced a smile and accepted the good wishes. They all meant well she knew, but all the attention was really making her uneasy. She had been called before IA before, mostly at the beginning of the Gargoyles helping her with her cases, before they had come into the public eye… But that had been pretty informal things, done out of sheer curiosity more than anything else.

Unlike those previous meetings, this was going to be the full Internal Affairs team.

A thought occurred to her, and she called Officer Morgan over to her. Officer Morgan was one of the more senior officers on the force. He had become a mentor of sorts, and Elisa trusted him to give it to her straight with no BS.

"Hey, Morgan." She greeted.

"Elisa," he nodded. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Elisa acknowledged absently. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

He looked surprised. "Sure."

"Has anyone been to see the officer who did the shooting?"

Morgan blinked and seemed to flinch guiltily. "Honestly, Elisa, I don't know. He'd only been here a few days, so none of us really knew him that well. I know quite a few stayed to help Officer Carver's family and fiancee, but I'm not sure about Boyd."

Elisa thought it was pretty telling that it was "Officer Carver" and just plain "Boyd". Not only that, but Officer Boyd was being spoken of in the past tense. It was as if Officer Boyd, himself, no longer existed.

Even if Boyd had made a mistake, he had lost the respect of his fellow officers, having shot and killed a fellow officer, and injuring another in the process.

Elisa sighed, running a hand through her hair. While she didn't understand Boyd's recklessness, she had a nagging sense of guilt that everyone was here to support her and seemed to have abandoned him.

"Morgan," Elisa said quietly. "Can you see if some of these guys could just stop and talk with Boyd. I don't know why or how it happened, but I do know that it was an accident. You can't fake the kind of shock that was in his eyes. He has to be in a special kind of hell right now."

Morgan had been listening and watching Elisa steadily. A new light of respect lit his face, and he placed a strong hand on her good shoulder. "I'll take care of it. In the meantime, you have an appointment to get to."

Elisa nodded her thanks, and made her way through the open squad room towards the rear conference rooms.


	12. Chapter 11

The meeting had carried over well past sunset, and by the time she was finished, Elisa was more tired than if she had run a triathlon.

Mentally, she was just worn out. She had gone over every action, every reaction, every scene and radio call that had happened on the night in question several times. She stood tall, spoke clearly and held herself together as firmly as she could throughout the process.

The committee was thorough, she would give them that. Elisa did not know their decision, and probably wouldn't know the decision right away anyhow. There would be the inevitable gossip within the department, but the true decision would not be known unless actual charges were pressed and the case made it to the courts.

Honestly, Elisa fully expected the court case. She felt bad for the officer who had pulled the trigger, but ultimately he had taken a life. He would have to live with that, and legally would probably see some court time. Maybe even some jail time.

Elisa caught up with Matt at his desk and took advantage of the promised ride to the Xanatos Enterprises building.

"The funeral is tomorrow morning," Matt reminded her.

Elisa nodded. "I have a set of my dress blues in my locker at the station. I will catch a cab over there in the morning and change there."

Matt gave her shoulder a companionable squeeze. "Take it easy tonight, Elisa. I can give you a ride to St. Francis and then back to your apartment after the service."

Elisa smiled, gratefully. "Thanks, Matt."

Matt gave her a salute and left her on the sidewalk in front of the Aerie building.

Elisa waved to Marcus, the night guard in the lobby, before heading to the elevator bank.

Waving her ID in front of the button panel, Elisa pushed the six digit code that allowed her access to the castle.

The doors opened to mass chaos.

The twins were racing down the hall, covered in some greenish looking slime. They were being chased by...well… everyone. Bronx was in the lead close behind the giggling pair of troublemakers.

"What in the…" Elisa managed to get out.

The twins turned in unison, having heard her voice somehow in all of the shouting going on, and turned to head for her.

"No," Elisa ordered, holding her free hand straight out in front of her. Normally, their antics made her smile, and most nights she would not mind them covering her in a mystery substance if it meant that she could get hugs from these two little heathens.

They were, functionally, her grandchildren after all.

Elisa felt a shudder go up her spine at that one. They were Goliath's grandchildren, and by extension they were hers too… but Liam was only a year younger than the twins. Trying to describe the family relations was confusing at best, so they simply called her "Auntie Elisa".

"No." She said again, bringing them to an abrupt halt.

Bronx took that opportunity to knock them both down, licking at their faces happily.

More accurately, he was licking up the goo.

Whatever **that** was.

Elisa gave the trio rolling on the floor a wide berth, and crept past them.

"Elisa!" Broadway called, a few unfortunate steps behind his kids.

"Thank the Gods," Brooklyn said, following his brother in the chase. "Welcome to the nut house."

Elisa chuckled. "So I see. What _is_ that?"

"Frosting," Lexington said.

"Angela asked for cake," Brooklyn said, sending Broadway a telling look.

"What?" Broadway asked defensively. "The kids wanted to help."

"An' now there be none left for the cake," Hudson groused, bringing up the rear.

Broadway hung his head in defeat.

"Well, how about we get these kids cleaned up before their mother sees them?" Elisa suggested.

"Yeah," Broadway grasped that idea with the desperation built from having a pregnant wife. "That would be great."

Elisa smiled. "Bad night?"

The young trio of males glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"I'm afraid that I won't be much help right now," Elisa gestured to her arm in the sling, "but I _can_ distract Angela for you."

Seemingly not thinking twice, Broadway swooped up the terrifying duo in all their green frosted glory and headed for the nearest bathroom.

"You're a life saver," Brooklyn told Elisa. Turning to Bronx, he chortled. "You're not getting away from this scott free, either."

Bronx let out a disappointed huff, and followed Brooklyn and Lexington outside to be hosed off.

"Elisa, lass," Hudson said, offering his arm. "Tis good to see you."

Elisa reached out awkwardly with her free arm and clasped the elder gargoyles forearm in an old warriors greeting. "You too, Hudson."

"Well, now, I bet ye'll be wantin' to see Goliath," He said with a knowing smile. "He's waiting for you in the library."

"Thanks," She said with a smile for the old warrior. "But first, I promised…"

"To distract Angela," Hudson finished for her. "She is in the library as well, away from this madness."

"How's she doing?"

Hudson stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Well enough."

"Given the circumstances?" Elisa chuckled.

"Aye," He agreed. "Tis better for most of us to stay out of the way, what with her time coming so soon."

"A little moody?"

"Wouldn't you be?" He asked.

"oh, yeah," Elisa agreed.

"Off with ye," Hudson shooed her. "Some of us still have patrols to run tonight."

"Stay safe," Elisa responded.

"And ye take care of that arm," Hudson said, turning towards the courtyard.

Elisa sighed. She really didn't want to wear the sling… But it helped to remind her not to over do it. She had never reopened a stitched wound before, and really didn't need that particular experience.

Elisa made her way through the castle. The library had always been one of her favorite rooms. While Xanatos had made sure that every room was now equipped with bright electrical lights, more often than not the library was still lit by low lighting and heated by the original fireplace. It was a large room that was on the far side of the castle's main entrance, and as such, it was the quietest.

She opened the doors quietly and spotted Angela immediately. The poor female looked exhausted, and that was saying something considering she'd slept all day.

"Hey," Elisa said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, Elisa," She said, distractedly. "I did not hear you come in."

"I can't blame you," Elisa sympathized. "Enjoy the peace and quiet while you can."

"I heard shouting in the hallway," Angela admitted, looking sheepish. "I was afraid to find out what had happened, so I came in here to hide."

"Be glad that you did." Elisa said, sitting on the oversized chair opposite her. "It is all being taken care of, and everyone is fine, so you just stay in here, and let the guys handle things for a while."

Angela smiled her thanks.

"So," Elisa began. "Any idea of when…"

"No," Angela burst out. "I think I'm going to be carrying this egg forever."

"Nah," Elisa said. "It just feels that way. It will be any day now, and you'll have put another egg in the rookery."

"Or two," Angela rolled her eyes.

"You overachiever," Elisa laughed.

"Were you looking for father?"

"Yes," Elisa said. "Hudson said that he was in here."

Angela frowned. "I think he was in the back a little while ago."

"I'll look for him." Elisa got to her feet and motioned for Angela to remain seated. "You rest. Put your feet up. I'll run as much interference as I can for you."

"Oh, thank you," Angela said softly. She repositioned herself to a more comfortable position, and closed her eyes.

Elisa patted her step-daughter's shoulder one more time, and made her way to the back recesses of the Library.

She finally spotted him on the upper level, quietly contemplating a large book.

"Hey, Big Guy," She called out softly.

"Elisa," He called back softly. Closing the book with a definitive _thump_ , Goliath lept down to the main floor. He swept her up into a gentle hug. "How did it go?"

Elisa shrugged. "It was rough, but I didn't expect it to be fun."

Goliath wrapped an arm over her shoulders. "I am truly sorry, Elisa."

"Goliath, there was nothing that you could have done. Even if you _had_ been there, it all happened too damn fast."

"Be that as it may…"

"No," Elisa stopped him. "Don't beat yourself up over this one. If you had been there, you could have been hurt. I know that you guys heal almost anything, but it doesn't really make it any easier on _**me**_ to see you get shot."

Goliath let out a low rumble deep in his chest.

"So," Elisa said, hurrying to change the subject. "What is on the agenda for you guys tonight?"

"We still need to go on our patrols," Goliath said. "Everyone wanted to wait until you got here before leaving, but now…"

"Go," Elisa urged. "I can help with the kids and keep an eye on Angela. I have my communicator in my pocket, and I will let you know if anything happens while you are gone."

He ran a hand over her hair, glanced at his daughter and beat a hasty retreat out of the library.

" _ **Coward,"**_ Elisa thought, laughing to herself. It seemed that Angela had officially made the entire clan leery. It was a known fact that pregnant females, no matter the species, became more and more cranky the closer it came to delivering.

It was a lesser known fact that cranky females tended to send males scattering in all directions.

With Broadway watching the twins, as much as they could be watched after, Elisa settled in the quiet of the library and kept Angela company until the others returned.

Elisa kept her follow up appointment with Dr. James. He looked at the wound and declared her healing satisfactorily. He wanted to give the stitches a few more days before he removed them, but everything appeared to be healing fine. He asked her to spend one more day in the sling to keep her from over-extending herself and ripping the stitches out herself, but otherwise he promised to sign her release papers soon that would allow her back to work.

Goliath and the others returned to the castle with enough time for Goliath to take Elisa home with him. They sat together, talking very little and just enjoying being in each other's company. When they did talk, both were careful to avoid talking about the next day.

They spoke of the clan, and the imminent arrival of a new egg in the rookery. The hatching of the twins, and the miracle they were.

Of Liam, and the wonder it was to both of them to be parents to such a wonderful boy, and how they both looked forward to his return.

The couple shared one last embrace, one last kiss, before the sun rose


	13. Chapter 12

One hour after sunrise, and having gotten the O.K. from Dr. James, Elisa was home treating herself to a quick shower. She let the warm water run over her shoulders and back, reveling in the gradual loosening of her muscles.

It had been a long sleepless night, and Elisa knew that the coming day was going to be no different. Captain Chavez had told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to report to work that night, so Elisa was looking at another long night with nothing to do.

She wouldn't even have Liam to keep her occupied.

Damn it.

Reluctantly, she turned off the water and wrapped herself in a towel. Opting for a comfortable pair of blue jeans and a navy tee shirt that she could get in and out of easily and tucked her arm into the much hated sling. She dressed with the knowledge that she would be changing clothing at least two more times before the day was over.

Once into, and once back out of her department issued navy blue dress uniform. It was stiff, starched to high hell, and probably still had the tag on it from the last time she had sent it out to be cleaned. Being that she was a plainclothes detective, a position that she loved, it was one of the best perks that she no longer need to wear her dress blues everyday. They rarely even left the station, spending most of the time in her locker.

They only came out on special occasions and funerals.

Scraping her hair back into a sleek bun, no easy task with one arm injured. It required a lot of twisting, turning and keeping her head as low as possible to avoid having to fully lift her hurt arm. Finally completed with the simple, yet exhausting chore, she checked her watch. The cab would be pulling up any moment to take her to the station so that she could change into her uniform.

Elisa stopped to grab her wallet, badge and ID. She struggled into her shoulder rig, making sure that her gun's safety was on before putting it in the holster. She took her red jacket off the coat tree, opting to carry it instead of trying to struggle in and out of it more than necessary.

The cab ride was uneventful, and she was soon back at the station.

"Jesus, Maza," Marlene, the phone dispatcher, called out. "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Not lately," Elisa called back. She knew she probably looked like hell, but couldn't really find it in her to care for the moment. She had makeup in her locker to help with that, after all, but she knew it wasn't going to fool anyone.

Most of the officers that she was going to see today had either seen her yesterday afternoon when she went into the IA meeting, or after dark when she had finally left. They would know that she would have only gotten a few hours of sleep, if any at all last night.

Elisa took her time getting dressed this time. She made sure that every gold button was fastened, every crease was pressed and hit where it was supposed to. The requisite necktie (the shade of her tie matching the same blue of the shirt so that it was barely visible) was straight with its shining silver tie tack. Donning the long sleeved dress jacket, her badge was positioned over her heart. Her name plate sat below it. The number '23' pins on her lapels declaring her from the 23rd precinct.

Her gun, she cleaned up and put into the regulation black side holster.

Tugging the sleeve cuffs so that they were straight. She placed the snug fitting cap on her head and gave herself one last once over in the mirror.

This wasn't the first funeral that she had attended for a fallen officer, and it probably would not be the last one she would attend in her career. Carver's death was probably hitting so hard because of the tragedy of it all. He had been in that position because he had felt the need to help her to her feet. She had worked feverishly on his fallen and damaged body, trying to hold him there.

In the end, it had been a useless measure. She had been assured over and over that there had been nothing that she could have done that would have saved him. She had done everything right, but the damage done by the bullet had simply been too great.

So why was she having trouble meeting her eyes in the mirror? _**Was**_ there something else that she could have done?

Elisa shook her head roughly. She was not going to think that way. She had done all that was in her power to do.

Quietly, she shut her locker. She glanced briefly at the sling, and debated not to wear it to the memorial. She really didn't feel like she needed it, and she felt silly wearing it. She picked it up, deciding that she would rather feel silly than face the wrath of the captain, should she happen to spot Elisa without it. Awkwardly, she maneuvered her arm into the sling, and made her way back to her desk. She took a seat and wait for Matt to give her the promised ride. The other officers in the room were being very careful around her. She had noticed the volume level drop when they had seen her, and it was irritating.

They probably thought that they were being considerate. She couldn't really say why that was irritating her so badly. She wasn't the mourning widow. He hadn't even been her partner. He was just a young kid who had been trying to make a place for himself in the force.

Giving up on sitting at her desk, feeling increasingly annoyed the longer she sat there, she went out to wait on the steps.

Matt pulled up a few minutes later, dressed in his blues as well. His cap was sitting in the back seat, otherwise he was perfectly put together. Elisa was almost impressed.

"I have never seen you all dressed up," Elisa said. "Has Pamela seen you in your uniformed glory?"

Pamela Wilson worked in the basement of the precinct. She was part of the "Nerd Squad", as she called them, and was the resident ballistics and forensics team. She and Matt had met during the first case that she had worked that had involved the youngest of the Canmore siblings. They had hit it off immediately, and had been dating on and off since.

They were more on than off, but a cop's life was not that conducive to relationships.

Still, Elisa was hoping that one or the other of them would come to their senses and pop the question. They were an amazing couple.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Get in the car, smart ass."

"Better than being a dumb one," Elisa quipped. She opened the car door and slip in. She opted to hold her hat on her lap, as some of the contents of his car was questionable at best. There was more than one reason she usually did all the driving. "Besides, Pam looks like she would love a man in uniform."

And so it began. For the next 20 minutes, the time it took for them to reach the chapel, Elisa and Matt busted each other's chops. It was an old pattern of theirs, and it was a much needed distraction. Whenever there was a rough night, they had seen something unpleasant, or just needed an outlet, Matt and Elisa would break out the sarcasm.

There were _still_ people on the force who had witnessed them going at it, and would swear that the two of them hated each other.

It was said that partners on the force were closer than married people. While that may be true for some, Elisa and Matt just shrugged it off. They saw the other as an extended family, both knowing _way_ too much about the other's secrets. They were fiercely loyal to the other. Sure, they gave each other a hard time sometimes, but when there was trouble, there was no one else they trusted more to have at their backs.

The area surrounding the chapel where the service was to be held had been blocked off by squad cars. Matt flashed his badge and found a parking place just inside the police line. The NYPD usually charters a bus in cases like this, but neither Elisa nor Matt had wanted to wait and ride with the others.

Well, that was not necessarily true. Elisa had not wanted to ride with the others, and Matt had gone along with it, understanding her need for the distance at that moment.

Elisa looked back on how she was so adamant about not wanting a partner at all with a grimace. At the time, it was because she was trying to protect the Gargoyles from being discovered. Then it was because she didn't want to share them…

Eventually, Matt had figured it out and called her out on it. He had become one of the clan's first allies and best friends.

Putting the car in park, Matt glanced at Elisa. "You ready for this?"

Elisa stared out at the groups of people in uniform crowding around the chapel and shrugged. "Are we ever?"

"Nope." Matt said. He opened his door and stepped out. He reached back inside to fish his cap out.

"Yeah," Elisa muttered to herself. She got out of the car and placed her own cap back on her head.

Only family, friends and a few of the higher ranking officials within the department were actually allowed inside the chapel. The rest would be outside to show their respect as Carver's body would pass by on the way to the cemetery.

Elisa lined up with the rest of the officers from her precinct and waited. Finally, the large wooden doors of the chapel opened, and the pall bearers carried out the American Flag covered coffin. It was placed in the back of an NYFD fire truck for transport. The flowers from the service were placed around the coffin, and family members were escorted to the black town cars that had been provided to take them to and from the graveside.

As the long line of cars were beginning their journey, a shouted order was given. As one, every officer along the street snapped to attention. The fire truck began to roll forward slowly. As it passed, hands snapped up to salute the fallen. Elisa held the salute until the last car passed by. It was a show of respect for Officer Carver, his family and those closest to him.

To her, it was a final gesture of thanks. He hadn't meant to save her, only acted like a gentleman and was helping someone to their feet. That act put him in the path of the bullet that killed him, and perhaps had saved her life.

Elisa let her hand drop to her side after the last car had passed. The large gathering of uniformed people began breaking up. Most got back on to their respective busses back to their precincts. Elisa and Matt got back in his car, and he headed out into traffic.

"Where can I take you?" he asked.

"Back to the station," Elisa said, working on taking her hair down from the tight bun. "I want to change and I still have to go fill out the damn paperwork from the shooting."

Matt seemed surprised. "I thought you were still on leave because of your arm."

"I am," Elisa said. "I just have a few things to do, otherwise when I _do_ get to come back, I'll have to do it all _then_."

"Good call," Matt said, making the turn that would take them back up 3rd avenue, toward the station house.


	14. Chapter 13

Elisa was hard at work an hour later. She had changed back into her "civilian" clothes, and back into her sling. The numbers of officers in the station had been cut down dramatically, now that the memorial service was over. Elisa felt like she could finally relax a little, now that she was free of all the scrutiny from the others.

Elisa buckled down, and got to work. She hated paperwork, but so did most of the officers that she knew. The endless forms and reports that had to be made with every investigation and arrest was daunting sometimes.

There had been a small stack of paperwork that had been left in her "inbox" since the night of the shooting. She really did want to get it done before officially being back on duty. After being off for the better part of a week, she was getting itchy to get back out on her patrols. As it was, Liam was still at her parent's house and sunset was still hours away, so she had nothing else to keep her busy.

After half an hour of sitting at her desk, Elisa tore off the dreaded sling. It was serving no purpose other than to annoy her. She wasn't doing anything strenuous, and her stitches were due to come out soon anyway. She had an appointment with Dr. James to have them removed. She had gone without it earlier and been fine, after all.

She stayed at her desk and burned through the stack of forms in record time. She was just signing the last of the reports when the telephone on her desk rang.

"Maza," She answered.

"How did I know that you would be there, and not at home resting?"

Elisa smiled. "Hi, mom." She could almost picture her mother standing, fists on her hips, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Like father, like daughter," She said. Elisa heard a deep voice in the background and her mother's response, "Yes, she's at work. She's _your_ daughter."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Elisa laughed.

"Sometimes it is," Diane admitted.

"What's going on?" Elisa frowned. There was something in her mother's voice that was making her nervous.

"I know that we said that we would keep Liam until tomorrow, but…"

"Mom," Elisa broke in. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine," She hurried to reassure her daughter. "But he is not feeling well, and is asking to come home."

"Of course," Elisa hurried to say. "Do you need me to come and get him?"

"No, of course not," Diane said. "We can bring him over. Where would you like us to drop him off? At home or the castle?"

"How sick is he?" Elisa asked.

"Probably just a stomach bug."

Elisa sighed. "Go ahead and drop him off at Dr. James' office. I'll meet you there and give Dr. James a call to see if he can take a look at him, just in case."

"Alright, honey," Diane said. "I will meet you there."

Elisa hung up the phone and turned the paperwork in to the processing desk. She went back to her desk, called Dr. James' answering service and left a message for him to call her. She grabbed her coat and was out the door in mere minutes.

Outside the station, she hailed a cab to the Aerie building and beat her mother there by only moments. She got the answering call from Dr. James on her cell phone in the cab and was reassured that he was available and waiting for them to arrive.

She was in the doctor's waiting room when Diane walked in carrying a very sick little boy.

"Hey mom," Elisa said, helping her hold the door open so that she could maneuver inside while holding Liam.

"Hey there, buddy," Elisa said softly, rubbing a hand over his back. The poor little guy was pale and looked worn out.

"Mom," he said weakly. He held his arms out to her and Elisa scooped him out of his grandmother's arms.

"He was fine last night," Diane said, worried. "Then around noon, he started saying that his stomach was upset. He got really sick in the car ride over."

"I threw up," Liam added. "In the car."

"What? I…" Diane stuttered, then sighed. "Oh, the joys of motherhood. Well, he's not the first kid to vomit in the car."

Elisa cringed. "You better go, mom, and get that cleaned up before the smell sets in."

Diane nodded. "Call me, and let me know how he is feeling later." She gave Liam a kiss on the cheek, hugged Elisa and took her leave.

Dr. James opened his door down the hall, and walked towards the mother and child. "Hey, there," He greeted them. "What's this I hear about young Mr. Liam being sick?"

"Hi," Liam greeted weakly.

"Wow, you really look rough there, little guy. Let's have a look at you and see what we can do."

After an examination… and a rush to the trashcan so that Liam could throw up again… Dr. James handed down the diagnosis.

"It's the flu," He announced. "There's a pretty nasty strain going around lately, and it seems to be bad enough that even those who have had the flu shot this year are getting it as well. Chances are that he was exposed a few days ago and is just now showing the symptoms."

Elisa stroked her son's back to comfort him. "Any suggestions?"

"Lots of fluid," He answered. "Gatorade works, too. Maybe some soup and crackers later. But for now, I have some children's doses of Pepto Bismol that may help with the nausea."

"Thanks doc."

"Anything for my favorite patients."

"I think we're your _only_ patients at this point." Elisa said with a smile.

"Hey," He protested. "I have other patients! I do all of the physicals for Xanatos Enterprises' employees for the insurance registration, _and_ I am on call as the Xanatos family primary physician."

"Uh, huh," Elisa said skeptically. "And how often have the Xanatos' actually taken advantage of that?"

Dr. James sighed. "A few times. That family is the healthiest and least accident prone people I know."

"Tell me about it," Elisa sighed. It probably had something to do with Fox's fae blood that kept her and the kids all healthy.

David and Fox Xanatos had their eldest son, Alexander, just in time for 'The Gathering'. Oberon, King of the Fae and best known through the works of Shakespeare, had decided that it was time for all of his "children" to return home to Avalon. All of the Fae who had been running loose amongst the world's population was suddenly finding themselves recalled to their mystical island home, and some were not happy about it.

Puck, the trickster, was one of them. He had come to like life among the humans, and did not want to return to his "boring" life on Avalon. He had enjoyed his freedom, and had dedicated his life in service to David Xanatos. He had been the last of the Fae to hold out against his "father's" orders.

As it turned out, Titania, Oberon's queen, had been a busy little bee during her time away from Avalon. She had gotten married and had a child with a human man, Halcyon Renard.

The flame-haired child from that odd union was none other than Janine "Fox" Xanatos. Titania had kept a close eye on her daughter, watching for any sign that Fox had inherited any kind of special powers. When Fox displayed none, Titania had never bothered to train her.

The night that Fox had given birth to her eldest son, Alex, was the night that Oberon had left Avalon to collect his wife and Puck. Titania had protested her return, stating that Alex needed to be taken to Avalon and trained to use any powers that he may have. Oberon gave in to his wife, taking extreme measures to try to take Alex away from his parents.

But the Xanatos family had two secret weapons: The Gargoyles and Puck.

Elisa had not been there. She had been sleeping an enchanted sleep with the aid of Oberon's spell. Actually, the rest of Manhattan Island had slept through it as well.

Puck had helped to hold Oberon and Titania off long enough for the Gargoyles to help 'convince' Oberon that Alex was better off staying with his parents.

Puck got to stay behind as well, with a few restrictions. Puck was left in Manhattan, still in David Xanatos' employ, but could only use his powers to train Alex to use his powers and see to his safety.

Titania was not completely out of the picture, however. She made a visit at least once a year to "check up" on Alex's progress. Other than that, Titania had come two extra times, both on the days that Fox gave birth.

Fox and David's second child, Christopher, was born 3 years after Alex. Their daughter, Victoria, followed four years later. All three of the children showed magical ability, however watered down with "human" genes they may be.

Puck definitely had his hands full with training now, and loved the time he got to shed his Owen persona and let Puck out to play.

One of the benefits of being part Fae, it seemed, was that neither Fox or the children got sick. Ever.

 _ **Lucky woman**_ , Elisa thought. Her mother had always told her that it was a motherhood right of passage, having to deal with sick kids. Diane didn't truly think any woman had earned the title of "mother" until they had been vomited on at least once. All Elisa knew was that it was exhausting, sometimes disgusting and worrying work.

Dr. James gave her a small pack of the pink colored tablets for Liam to take for his stomach troubles. Rather than try to get across town in the heavy traffic that was bogging down the streets with people trying to get home, Elisa borrowed a blanket from Dr. James' clinic to bundle him up with.

She gathered Liam up and carried him up to the castle levels.


	15. Chapter 14

The Gargoyles had already awakened for the day, but Goliath had not arrived yet. Elisa sat in one of the oversized armchairs in the media room, turning the Disney Channel on with low volume. Liam lapsed into an uneasy sleep on her lap, but Elisa didn't put him down.

Even as a baby, Liam was blessed with a strong immune system. He rarely got sick, but when he did it was with the full force of whatever sickness had hit him. This was just a simple flu bug, but Liam was miserable and there was very little that Elisa could do to comfort him.

And so she simply held him as he drifted off into sleep. Liam was normally a restless sleeper, tossing and turning constantly. Elisa used to think that he simply had so much energy that he couldn't get it all out during the day. Tonight, however, he was so still.

Elisa wondered how long he had been feeling sick before saying anything. He was not a complainer by nature, so it was hard to tell if there was anything wrong until it hit crisis level.

"Elisa?" Angela called from the doorway.

Elisa turned her head and spotted her stepdaughter in the doorway. "Hey Angela. How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," she said, coming to stand beside Elisa. She looked down at her stepbrother in affection. "I heard he wasn't feeling well."

Elisa nodded. "He had a hard day. I'm hoping that some rest and fluids will help."

Angela nodded as if she understood, even though she couldn't. Gargoyles didn't get sick. The stone sleep cured Gargoyles of their injuries, as well as any sickness they might pick up.

Elisa envied that.

"I will go look for father, and tell him where you are." Angela said.

"Thank you," Elisa said, grateful that she wouldn't have to wander the halls carrying Liam.

Angela gave her a little wave and exited the room as silently as she'd come.

Elisa sat through most of "The Lion King" before Goliath made it to the castle and to her side.

"Elisa," he said in that deep rumbling voice, concern etched on his face. "What is wrong?"

"It's fine, Big Guy," Elisa hurried to reassure him. "He just caught a bit of the flu, that's all. A day or two, and he will be fine."

"Hmmmm," Goliath rumbled thoughtfully.

"Dr. James already checked him out," Elisa said. "We just need to give him some extra rest and keep him hydrated."

Goliath nodded. "I will ask Brooklyn to help us get him home."

Elisa nodded. "Thank you." Goliath could have carried them both, and he had done so several times… But with Liam unable to hold on to him or Elisa, it made her feel better to know that he wasn't going to insist on doing it tonight.

Soon, they were on their way home. Goliath carried Elisa in his arms, and Brooklyn carried a snugly wrapped Liam.

Elisa worried that Liam would be warm enough on the journey, but the clan had gathered up several spare blankets to add to the one the he already had so that the cooling air of autumn wouldn't make him cold.

Goliath led the way on the most direct route to the apartment, careful not to get too far away from Brooklyn. Soon, they were landing in the rooftop courtyard.

Goliath landed, setting Elisa down gently. Together, they met Brooklyn when he landed as carefully as he could. Once it was safe, he handed over the precious cargo he carried.

He had an odd look on his face that Elisa didn't recognize until she had Liam in her arms… Then the smell hit.

"Oh, buddy," Elisa crooned, hugging her son close. "I'm sorry that you're sick."

Goliath got a whiff of the sick smell, and glanced at Brooklyn with a pained expression.

"Uh, yeah," Brooklyn said, sheepishly. "He… uh… got sick on the way."

Elisa cringed in sympathy. "Did you get hit?"

"Nah," He said. "The smell is from the little bit that got on the blankets."

"And the rest?" Elisa asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Bombs away," Brooklyn said with a smirk. "Someone's car is definitely going to need washed tomorrow."

Elisa chuckled, and only felt a little guilty about it.

"How about we get our boy to bed?" She asked Goliath.

"We got the patrols covered tonight," Brooklyn said. "Goliath, you stay with Elisa and Liam. We will let you know if anything big happens."

Goliath nodded and shook Brooklyn's forearm. Turning, he held his arms out to Elisa. "You should not be carrying him yet. I will help get him upstairs for you."

Elisa passed Liam into his father's arms as carefully as she could, but he still woke a little.

"Daddy" his little voice called out, weakly.

"I am here," Goliath responded, cradling the small boy close to his chest. "Rest now, my son. Your mother and I will keep you safe."

Liam accepted this with the unquestioning trust of a child.

Goliath carried him inside the house, and up to his small room.

The walls were still the same blue that the Maza women had painted them when Elisa had made the decision to adopt Liam. The zoo animals had been replaced with superhero posters, but it was still very much the room of a growing boy.

Goliath set his son gently in the center of his room and extracted him from the foul smelling blanket. He handed the offending cloth to Elisa, who took it from the room and tossed it straight in the washing machine in consideration of Goliath's incredible sense of smell.

He helped his son change into a clean pair of pajamas, and helped him to drink a small bit of water.

Goliath ran his taloned hand gently over his son's forehead. Goliath helped Liam into bed and covered him with his favorite fleece 'Toy Story' blanket. Leaning forward, he kissed the child goodnight before leaving the room.

Goliath and Elisa decided to spend the night at home, wanting to be close by if Liam awoke and needed something.

Around eleven, Angela dropped by to offer her help too. Elisa had a feeling that she just wanted to get away from her own crazy kids and nervous mate. In a way, Elisa couldn't blame her… But to offer to sit with someone's sick child just to avoid your own kids was a special form of lunacy.

Between the three of them, the checked on Liam at regular intervals. Sometimes he was asleep and sometimes they had to take him on a mad dash to the bathroom. By 4 a.m., Liam finally seemed to be resting comfortably.

Elisa was not convinced it was over, however.

Elisa sighed heavily, knowing that if Liam was really and truly ill, she was going to have a long day ahead. It had already been a long night, and she was thankful to finally be home.

After checking on Liam one last time, she crept quietly down the stairs and plopped onto the sofa. Leaning against Goliath, she felt as wrung out as poor Liam looked.

Goliath wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.

Angela smiled sympathetically, rising from her seat on Elisa's backless sofa. Elisa had learned some time ago that backless chairs and sofas were the way to go. It was comfortable for the Gargoyles to sit on with room for their tails, and it saved on upholstery repair later.

"Hey, Ang," Elisa whispered to her stepdaughter. "Thank you for helping with Liam tonight. How are you feeling?"

Angela rubbed her hands lovingly over her rounded belly. "I am alright. Honestly, I can not wait until it is time to get this one to the rookery and I can see my toes again."

Elisa chuckled. "It will be over soon enough. How are Brenna and Connor?" She asked, referring to the twins. The last time she had seen them had been the previous evening, and they had been coated head to toe in a green gooey frosting.

"Still running amok," Angela admitted with a sigh. "Broadway thinks I don't know what they were up to the other night, but I am nervous about what I may be going home to."

"They are still young, sweetie," Elisa sympathized, remembering Liam's toddler years all too well. "They'll start calming down… eventually."

Angela groaned. "Not. Soon. Enough."

Elisa got to her feet, threw her arm around Angela's shoulders and gave a gentle squeeze in a show of motherly support. "Don't wish for them to grow up too fast. It will already happen too fast. Before you're ready."

Angela smiled and hugged Elisa back. "You're right. I know you're right."

"You could always stay here for the day," Elisa offered.

"No," Angela said, looking almost sorry to turn down the offer. "I am worn out, but I would spend my time worrying about them if I weren't there. Besides, I want to be near the rookery when I am finally ready to lay this egg."

"Would you like me to escort you home, daughter?" Goliath asked.

"No," Angela waved the offer away. "Liam and Elisa need you here. I will be fine, and I will enjoy the gliding time alone."

"I hear you and completely understand. Go," Elisa said, shooing Angela toward the sliding doors. "Go home and put your feet up. The clan can watch the kids for a while longer. You take care of _you_ for a while."

Angela waved goodbye and slid the door shut behind her.


	16. Chapter 15

Goliath and Elisa checked on Liam once more before the sun rose for the day. He was still resting comfortably, despite the fact that he was a little flushed. Both parents were sincerely hoping that the illness would pass soon.

Goliath was able to go into the stone hibernation for the day with the knowledge that his son was probably going to be feeling back to his old self by his next rising.

Elisa, deciding that if she was going to get some rest, it was now or never. She began the process of stripping out of her work gear. Her badge and identification went into the drawer of the telephone stand that she had put inside of her front door. Her red leather jacket was hung on the wooden coat rack.

After coming home, she was so focused on taking care of Liam, that she had broken her own rule. Instead of locking the gun up right away, she had placed it, holster and all, into the highest cupboard that she could. She had the time to deal with it now, and so she did. She removed her gun from the holster, checking to make sure that it was completely ammunition free with the safety engaged before locking it safely away in her gun safe. The ammunition locked up separately in a small box in her closet.

There had been an incident, some years back, where Broadway had accidentally shot Elisa with her own gun. Since then, she had been more careful with how she had stored her weapon. Once Liam had come along, she had taken extra care with her gun and putting it up higher and in a locked box.

Once the hardware was taken care of, she couldn't help but to look in on Liam one more time. He was curled up, face a little flushed, wrapped tightly in his favorite blanket. Elisa gently laid her hand on her son's brow, frowning when she felt his temperature. She was going to have to keep an eye on him to make sure his temperature was not going to get any higher.

Elisa leaned down to kiss his forehead before turning to leave. She wondered briefly about calling someone to sit with him so that she could get some real sleep. After thinking on it, she decided against it. She would just set an alarm, and get up every hour or so to make sure that Liam was still doing alright.

Elisa turned, careful to leave the door to her son's bedroom open a crack, and retreated to the living room. As much as she wanted sleep, she was afraid to get too comfortable in her own bed. She didn't want to oversleep and miss checking on Liam.

She turned on the television to a light comedy channel, keeping the volume low for the background noise, and made her way to the kitchen to make herself something to eat. She hadn't eaten since she had awakened that morning. She had missed getting herself lunch due to the desire to get her paperwork caught up.

She glanced through the kitchen, settling on opening a can and heating up a bowl of soup for herself. While it heated, she made a pot of coffee and took out a wrapped steak from the freezer to cook up for Goliath later. He would probably be hungry himself when he woke tonight.

Elisa turned the stove off, using the ladle to fill a small bowl and helped herself to some saltine crackers. Curling up on her sofa, Elisa watched the silly, mindless comedy show and ate her dinner.

Half an hour later, she rinsed the bowl and placed her dirty dishes in the sink.

She decided to check on Liam before trying to close her eyes for a bit.

A fine layer of sweat lay on Liam's brow, and Elisa gently wiped it away with a wet washcloth. With relief, Elisa realized that Liam's fever had broken. His skin was cool, the heated flush in his cheeks was gone.

Elisa touched her lips against his forehead, leaving a gentle kiss there.

Going back downstairs, Elisa laid down on the couch with a relieved sigh.

Goliath was asleep for the day, Liam was back to bed now that the fever had broken, and Elisa was feeling tired… but suddenly she was feeling restless.

As a second generation cop, she had grown up learning to depend on her instincts. The air felt heavy, like something was coming. Something bad.

Absolutely certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep now, even if she went back to her actual bed, she grabbed the quilt her grandmother had made her out of the linen closet and attempted to bed down on the sofa for the day. She turned the television on to a local news station and tried to just zone out for a while.

"Thank you for tuning into WVRN's Morning show," The chipper announcer began. "It is turning out to be a beautiful September day out there today and we have a special treat for you. One of today's hottest bands is here today, and will be performing live in our studio..."

Feeling jittery, Elisa flung off the quilt and gave up any illusion to herself that she was tired.

Instead, she went up to her room, grabbed a white tank top and sweatpants, and went into the extra bedroom that she had turned into a personal gym. It was while she was changing that she realized that she had been in Dr. James' office last night, and they both had forgotten her appointment to have her stitches checked on and removed.

Ugh. She couldn't go back to work without the release note from Dr. James, and he couldn't release her without taking the stitches out. She made a mental note to call him and see if he could take care of both before she reported for work that night.

She went from machine to machine in an attempt to tire herself out, but the uneasiness would not leave her. Giving up, Elisa called it quits and went to clean up. She took her time in the shower, letting the hot water relax her muscles.

She went ahead and dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and a tee shirt. If she _did_ manage to get some sleep, it probably wouldn't be more than a short nap anyway.

After half an hour of mind numbing Hollywood gossip, Elisa was finally feeling sleepy. Elisa closed her eyes, and began letting her mind wander to the mindless drone of the co-anchors.

She felt herself finally drifting off to sleep, when the explosion rocked the building.


	17. Chapter 16

The sudden booming noise was deafening.

Elisa jolted awake, feeling the vibration from the explosion as it vibrated through the building.

Out of pure instinct, she rolled into a crouch onto the floor while scanning for danger.

"Mommy?" Liam called out in sleepy fright.

Elisa didn't think, she only reacted. She bolted to her feet and ran up the stairs. She burst into her son's room and spotted Liam sitting upright, rubbing his eyes sleepily. She gathered Liam close, blanket and all, and ran with him back down to the living room.

Without knowing exactly what was going on, it was hard to know what to do. Where to go.

It was there that the newscast finally caught her attention.

"...It is uncertain exactly what caused it," said the solemn faced news anchor. "What we do know is that a plane has hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center ..."

" _ **Oh, Gods…"**_ Elisa thought frantically.

Elisa sat down abruptly, holding her son tightly and staring at the screen. She was going on little enough sleep that it took a moment for her to register what she was seeing on the television and put it together with the explosion that had rocked her apartment.

"Mom," Liam squirmed and squealed.

"Sorry, sweetie," She said absently, never looking away from the newscast. She forced herself to loosen her arms a little, but couldn't let him go entirely.

"...It has now been confirmed that NYPD Port Authority has already begun evacuations of the North Tower, with both the New York Fire Department as well as New York Police from all around Manhattan are already en route." the anchor was saying, catching Elisa's attention once more.

Elisa placed Liam beside her on the sofa and stood up. "Liam, I need to go outside for a moment. Stay here."

Elisa fairly ripped the sliding doors off their tracks in her haste to get outside. She felt the breath hitch in her chest as she realized that Goliath was alright. She prayed that the other members of the clan had made it back to the castle the night before.

Elisa sprinted to the edge of the courtyard that faced the World Trade Center. Hearing what had happened was different that seeing it in person. Elisa was stunned at the site that met her, as she saw the gaping hole in the building. The bright wall of flame and the thick clouds of billowing smoke. Elisa could see people from nearby buildings on their own balconies and rooftops, wanting to see the damage for themselves.

Elisa could hear the exclamations from the other people nearby, but she could also hear the sirens.

Those were her friends and coworkers racing towards something that, until that point, had only been posed as a hypothetical situation.

Elisa threw a glance towards her husband, and realized that there was absolutely nothing that she could do to protect him. Sending up a quick prayer, she ran inside once more.

"Liam," Elisa said, doing her best to sound calm. "I am going to call David and Fox to see if they can come and pick you up. Mommy has to go to work."

"Because people are hurt?" Liam asked, suddenly sounding much older than his age.

Elisa knelt beside him, taking his hands in hers and meeting his eyes. "Yes," Elisa said softly. "People need help."

Liam nodded. "I can go and stay with the Xanatos'. I will be good, and maybe I can stay with the clan tonight."

Elisa nodded. "I will try to be home by the time the clan wakes up, but I might run late."

"It's okay," Liam said.

Elisa nodded and picked up her cell phone. She called ahead to the Xanatos family private line, making sure that it would be alright if she were to drop Liam off.

After being assured that it would be fine, Elisa rushed to pack him a bag with clothes for the day, his hand-held video games and randomly tossed in a few extra toys.

Elisa stopped to take a breath. She still had to get her son to safety, and it wouldn't do anyone any good to have him scared. He already knew enough about the situation, he did not need to see his mother panic.

Elisa hurried to her room. She grabbed her shoulder harness, and moved to unlock the gun safe. It took her a few tries, her hands being a little shaky and not wanting to hit the correct buttons. She finally managed to get it unlocked, however. Inside the safe was the key to the ammunition case, and she used that as well. She slammed the gun home, took a deep breath to steady herself and tried to prepare herself to interact with Liam.

She shouldered the bag, and walked back into the living room. She turned off the television and offered Liam her hand. He trustingly placed his hand in hers, and together they walked into the hallway.

Elisa had placed her key into the elevator call panel lock when her building shook again with another loud roar. Elisa dropped the bag, and moved her son into a corner of the hallway, covering him with her body.

Finally, when the vibrations had stopped and the noise was no longer ringing in her ears, she backed away slowly to give her son room. Elisa grabbed the small bag from the floor and hurried with Liam to the elevator.

She had no idea what had just happened, but she was desperate to get her child somewhere safe. She turned the key in the Penthouse security switch and watched as the numbers slowly lit up as the elevator car rose to her level. When the doors opened, Elisa hustled her son in. Poor Liam was upset and visibly scared, and Elisa was doing her best to comfort him.

Elisa almost swore aloud when she felt the elevator slow to a stop moments later. The doors opened, and a familiar voice called out.

"Elisa!"

Elisa felt a small bubble of relief rise in her chest. Patty was okay, and it was one less person that she had to worry about for the moment. Elisa heaved a sigh, "Patty, am I happy to see you!"

"I am happy that you are both safe, as well," Patty said, dropping her bag and throwing her thin arms around Elisa's shoulders and giving her a motherly squeeze. A small, loud bark erupted from the bag, and Patty scooped it up again. Tidbit, the teacup poodle, stuck her head out of the bag and sent Patty a disgruntled bark. "Elisa, what is going on?"

"I don't know," Elisa admitted. "I heard about the plane hitting one of The Towers, and I am going to drop Liam with some friends so that I can try to go help."

Patty glanced at Liam, then back to Elisa. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Elisa looked from Patty to Liam and back. "Traffic is going to be a nightmare."

Patty shrugged, taking Liam's bag from Elisa's hands. "I am in no hurry. I am on my way to go to Xanatos Enterprises so that I can maybe hang out with my husband, mostly because I don't want to be here alone." Patty smiled gently, shouldering Liam's small bag. "I can take him wherever you need him to go."

Elisa gratefully sighed in relief. "I need him to go to the Xanatos Enterprises building, too. Stop at the security desk, and have them page Owen Burnett, and he will come and get Liam."

Patty arched a brow. "I wondered if you were a close friend of the Xanatos family with as often as I see you there."

Elisa shook her head at her friend. "I'll tell you the story someday."

"That's a deal," Patty said.

The elevator slowed to a halt on the ground floor, and Patty smiled down at Liam. She held out her hand, "Ready to go on an adventure, buddy?"

Liam placed his hand in hers, sending his mom a scared look.

Elisa wished she had the words to calm his fears, but at this time, she still had very little information to go on...and she was honestly scared enough, herself.

They were crossing the lobby toward the entrance doors to the building when Owen Burnett, himself, came in.

"Detective Maza," He greeted. "Mr. Xanatos called and asked me to stop and pick up young Mr. Maza and bring him to the Aerie Building directly."

Elisa had never been so happy to see the wooden major domo of David Xanatos. She didn't buy the story that the Xanatos' had sent him, though. He would have had to have sprouted wings to get here that fast. She was willing to bet that Puck had been allowed to come out and play enough to give him some travel assistance. However it had happened, She was glad to see him.

"Owen," Elisa hurried over to him, Liam and Patty in tow. "This is my friend, Patty. Her husband is Jim Fitzgerald, and he works at the X.E. Security Development Division, and she would appreciate a ride to the building as well."

To his credit, Owen didn't even blink.

"Of course," He said, offering the other woman a bow. "Please, follow me."

Patty helped ease Liam into the black town car that Owen tended to drive if he thought he would need better maneuverability than with the limos. It looked like a regular car, but Elisa knew that it was a very well disguised small armored tank. Bullet proof, sound proof and tamper proof, it was a vehicle that eased Elisa's fears of her son getting to where she needed him to be.

Owen closed the door behind the two passengers and paused to look at Elisa. "I would like to assure you that both your son and your husband will be kept safe," He said quietly. "Once we are back at the Aerie Building, and master Liam is safe with Mr. Xanatos and his family, I will come back myself and make sure that Goliath will be fine."

"Thank you," Elisa said, grateful. "Owen," Elisa asked slowly, "What is this? _Who_ is this?"

Owen shook his head, frowning thoughtfully. "Detective, I have no idea. It is not one of Oberon's children, the Quarrymen, nor any of the minor offshoots of them."

Elisa frowned. "Is this a situation that would allow your inner Puck to come out if this gets really dangerous?"

"What makes you think it hasn't already happened?" Owen asked, a lopsided grin flashing across his face for the briefest of moments before disappearing. "If there is any threat to Fox's children, I am allowed to do what I must in order to keep them safe. That extends to the clan and all of those who happen to be inside the Aerie building. I will do what I must to protect them all. Now, if you will excuse me, I must get going," Owen apologized with a nod in the direction of the car. "I must still get our guests back to the safety of the Aerie."

"And Goliath.." Elisa started, glancing up towards the top of her building.

"I will transport him to the Aerie as well, as soon as I am able to." Owen assured her.

Elisa nodded. "Take care of them," she said. She waved and blew her son a kiss as the car pulled away.

Once the car had turned the corner, Elisa sprinted towards the parking garage.


	18. Chapter 17

Elisa was pulling out into traffic when she thought to turn her radio on. It was then that she had heard the news that the second plane had hit the second world tower.

"What the hell?" She wondered out loud. "What is going on?"

The streets were clogged with cars, busses, taxis and pedestrians. It was as if the 'city that never sleeps' had just… stopped. Pedestrians, taxis, busses and bicyclists were still, holding their place in the madness that was happening around them.

For the first time in Elisa's memory, people of all ages, races and religions seemed to be gathering together in support and fear of the unknown.

And all eyes were focused on the billowing clouds of smoke that were slowly blocking out the sunlight from the sky.

Luckily, her condo was fairly close to work. A few blocks down 19th Street, a left down 3rd Avenue, and it was a straight shot from there. With her lights and sirens going, she made it in 10 minutes.

Elisa's tires squealed as she swung into the station's parking lot. She half-assed a parking job, not even caring if she were in the lines of the space that she'd found, in the mostly empty lot. Most of the officers were probably on the scene.

Elisa ran into the station, finding it a scene of chaos, even though it was mostly empty. The few officers that were there were manning phones, trying to reassure the callers, and maintain a calm demeanor all their own.

"Detective!" came a familiar voice.

"Captain!" Elisa called back, turning toward her captain and old family friend, Maria Chavez.

"Glad you're here," She said, "It's all hands on deck. Word had come down that the NYPD needs as many of our people spread out, river to river."

"Where do you need me?" Elisa didn't hesitate to ask. She was worried. Frightened. But this is what she had been trained to do.

"How's the arm," Maria asked bluntly.

"Fine. I can have the doctor fax you the release if you need it."

"Forget it," Maria waved it off. "If you are able to walk and talk today, I'll take your word on it."

"Chief, they just shut down public transit," An older officer called from his desk where he was manning the phones. "The only way out of Manhattan is the Brooklyn Bridge, and things are clogging up down there."

"You want to help?" Maria looked at Elisa. "I need you down there to help direct people to the Brooklyn Bridge. Hell, help sort out the driving traffic if you can."

Elisa nodded. "On it, chief."

"Elisa," Maria called out. "I have no idea what is going on out there, but please be careful."

Elisa nodded, heading for the door.

"Hey, Maza," came another familiar voice. "I'm heading that way. Need a lift?"

Elisa stopped and looked at her partner, Matt Bluestone. He looked like she felt; hair a mess, dark circles under his eyes and a grim, vaguely shocked look in his eyes. He probably hadn't had any sleep either, having only been off of his night shift a few hours before the first plane had hit.

"Matt," Elisa said, never having been more happy to see him. She couldn't stop herself from reaching out and giving him a hard hug.

"Later, people," Maria barked out. "There is talk of all routes out of Manhattan and into the city being closed off. Before that happens, we need to get as many people out and away that we can or they won't be able to get home." With that, Maria was gone, back down the hall, shouting orders at anyone standing still.

"What?" Matt asked, sounding shell shocked. "First the public transit, now the bridges and tunnels?"

Elisa nodded solemnly. "They want to make sure that access is limited in case this is not over. First from the air, but what about on the ground?"

"No," Matt said. "I get it, I do… But there are a lot of people who work in Manhattan that don't live here. How many people are going to be trapped here if all the ways off the island are cut off?"

"That means that we need to get to the bridge as fast as we can."

"Let's go," Matt said, snatching the keys out of his pocket. "I'm right out front."

Elisa led the way, whipping out her phone as they were on the way out the door. As she hit the speed dial button that would connect her with the castle, she called out for Matt to hurry.

"All circuits are currently busy…" came the tinny mechanical recorded voice from her phone.

"Damn it!" Elisa swore, hitting the disconnect button.

"Can't get through?" Matt asked, unlocking his car and sliding into the driver's seat.

"No," Elisa said, hitting the redial button. When she got the message again, she tucked the phone back into her jacket pocket. "I guess everyone is trying to call their families right now."

"Can't blame them." Matt said. "We're all scared."

"Yeah," Elisa said.

"I'll wait, if you want to go back in and use a landline," Matt offered.

"No," Elisa said, putting the phone back in her pocket. "Lexington souped this thing up so that it should connect everywhere. It'll get through eventually. We need to get down there."

"Alright. Where to?" Matt asked.

"Where are you going?" Elisa asked.

"I am going to go help direct the foot traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge." Matt said.

"That's where I was going. If you can help at the actual bridge, I can head further in and start directing people your way."

"Sounds good." Matt said, nodding absently. "Get the people standing around taking pictures and videotaping everything moving."

"Got it."

Elisa put the police issue bubble light up on the top of the car as Matt turned on the siren. They really shouldn't have worried about the traffic…They were one of very few vehicles that were heading _toward_ the towers.

Matt pulled onto Madison Street a few blocks from the bridge. "Here we are."

Elisa got out and looked at Matt. "Take care of you, okay?"

"You take care of you, too."

Elisa nodded, took a deep breath, and started making her way against the flow of people and closer to the towers.

Elisa spent the next ten minutes moving people along. The same shock was mirrored on everyone's faces. Some were crying, some were visibly injured, some were just trying to get home to their families. And then there were the inevitable gawkers.

"Put the cameras down people," Elisa found herself yelling more than once. "This isn't Disneyland. If you don't live in the area, head towards the bridge to get to the city."

Elisa's throat was feeling raw from all of the yelling, and there were still people coming. She had steadily been moving farther from the bridge, passing City Hall Park, trying to get to the people nearer to the site of the attacks… because, at this point, Elisa was certain that it was a planned attack. One plane crashing could have been an accident, but two planes?

That was too much coincidence. As a cop, Elisa didn't believe in coincidences. Fate, yes. Products of plots and planning, yes. Pure coincidence? Not in situations like this.

A large group of people had gathered, causing a roadblock. They were yelling, gesturing toward the towers and had caused an obstacle for the other people who were still trying to get to the evacuation route. Pedestrians were going around them, vaguely reminding Elisa of a large rock in a stream, it was slowing the process down.

"Alright guys," Elisa said, making her way against the stream of people towards the gathering. "Talk while you walk, but let's keep it moving."

She was a few steps from the group when the noise started. It started as a dull roar, but was gaining volume. The ground was beginning to shake under her feet.

Elisa had a moment to think, " _ **Earthquake?"**_

Then she saw the cloud. A thick, white cloud of dust and debris was heading her way. It was gaining speed as the noise increased, and rolling as if it were water.

"Move," Elisa said once, then again louder to be heard. " **Move!** "

People were screaming now. And running. Some were ducking into the spaces between buildings, others into actual businesses.

Elisa spotted a small pizza shop who had the door propped open, and ran to the door. She kicked the door stop out of the way so that she would be able to close it. She held the door open until the last possible moment, calling people to come inside. Once the dust cloud rolled in front of them, however, she was forced to shut the door.

It didn't seem to matter. With the cloud came what sounded like hail. It pelted the roof, the window and the doors. Small pebble sized rock and chunks of metal were falling from somewhere, bouncing off the sidewalk outside and hitting the windows.

A larger rock hit the large front window, cracking it in a jagged line across the center. Once a crack starts, the integrity of the window is compromised, and it is just that much easier to break. There were a lot of people in the room. All they needed was to be near the window when it decided to give.

Nervous, Elisa encouraged the people who were huddled inside the cramped room to get away from the windows. She got everyone into the kitchen area at the rear of the restaurant only moments before the large plate glass window shattered under the force of the falling debris. Everyone was huddling together in fear, as Elisa watched the dust cloud moved indoors.

"Get down!" Elisa ordered. "Use what you can to cover your mouth and nose."

Elisa pulled the neck of her shirt up to cover the lower half of her face, and knelt down in front of the kitchen's red swinging door. It was a fruitless effort, but she was hoping to block as much of the dust out in the main dining area, and out of the kitchen.

It got in anyway, through the large open window that the cooks used to pass the food orders to the wait staff. It was thick, and even through her makeshift mask it permeated her nostrils. For a moment, Elisa felt like she was going to suffocate.

A small cry from a nearby corner caught her attention. Through the thick haze, she saw the barest of outlines of a small, frightened child.

Using her arms, Elisa pulled herself over to the girl, trying her best to shield her from the lung-clogging particulates. She felt another arm on the child's back, assuming it was her parent. Quickly, Elisa pulled her arms out of her leather coat and flung it as far over the mother and child's head as possible.

"Shh," Elisa said softly, trying to calm the frightened child. "It will be over soon," She said, praying that she was right.


	19. Chapter 18

In what must have been minutes, even though it felt like hours, the dust began to settle and clear away, leaving everything coated in a white powder.

Elisa rose to her feet, even though she urged the others to stay down. Picking her way through the dining room, past a few overturned chairs and feeling glass crunch under her feet.

At some point, the glass in the door had also broken, leaving an empty twisted metal frame behind. Elisa pushed against the frame of the broken door and walked outside.

It looked as if it was the middle of winter. The cars, the pavement, the buildings were covered in the white dust. Even the business signs were covered and barely discernable from each other.

People were starting to emerge from the buildings, most were coughing. Some were crying. All seemed terrified.

"Go to the bridge," Elisa called out, waving at the people that she was seeing. "Get across the river."

A few of the people went back inside the buildings they had just come out of, but most of them simply started moving. Knowing that she had done what she could for the moment, she went back inside the pizza restaurant.

Elisa went inside the kitchen, glancing over all of the people inside. She noticed that the little girl that she had tried to keep covered was still having a hard time. She could hear the deep wheeze of labored breathing and see her little chest expanding as her lungs tried to work harder than they should have.

Concerned, Elisa knelt beside the girl and the woman who was holding the girl's hand.

"Hey," Elisa said, her voice scratchy and dry. "How are you both doing?"

"I am all right," the woman said in halting english. "But my baby…Her asthma"

Elisa nodded her understanding. It was hard for _her_ to breath, so she could only imagine what all of this was like for a little girl. "Does she have an inhaler?"

The mother nodded. "In my bag."

Elisa looked around, not seeing a bag. "Where is it?"

The woman looked around helplessly. "I do not know."

"Alright," Elisa said trying to sound calmer than she was feeling.

"Here," the pizza parlor's owner stood up. He rushed over to the large stainless steel industrial sized sink and started the water. He grabbed a towel and wetted it down. He handed the towel to Elisa, and she began wiping the child's face clean hoping that it would help somewhat to get the dust away from her face.

"She needs her medicine," The mother cried. "I must have dropped my purse when we were running."

"There is a drug store," one of the other employees said. "A couple of doors down."

"I'll go," Elisa said. To the mother, she said, "Stay here with your daughter until I get back." To the others, she said, "You should all start making your way to the bridge if you need to get to the city tonight."

The owner shook his head. "We live here, above the shop."

Elisa looked at the man closely then. He was only a little taller than she was, the kind of older, proudly Italian man that you would expect to see living above and managing a pizza place in New York. "What's your name?"

"Matteo," He said "I own this restaurant. My family and I have an apartment upstairs."

Elisa nodded. "Then, if you are sure, stay here for now, but be prepared to leave if you need to. Stay away from the windows if you can." Elisa looked over her shoulder at the mother and daughter. "Keep an eye on them for me, and I will get back as soon as I can."

The owner nodded again. He was opening up the cooler, and distributing cold bottles of water to those who were still there, waving off the people who were offering to pay for them.

Elisa left the kitchen and made her way, once more, onto the street. She looked one way, then the other, and finally made out the sign for one of those family run, small pharmacies on the corner. She ran, careful to pick her way around the people who were running for the safety of the bridge.

Still not entirely sure what had happened, only knowing that it was bad, she hurried to the store. The people inside were as shaken and terrified as those that she had left inside the pizza place. She ran to the pharmacy counter, and held up her badge to get attention.

"I have a girl, she looks around 9 or 10," she called out to the pharmacist. "She is having an asthma attack, and needs an inhaler."

The older woman behind the counter stood and began rifling through her stock. "Here," she said, grabbing a small white box.

Elisa pulled out a few bills and some loose change from her jeans pocket. "How much?"

"Don't worry about it," the woman said. "You take care of the little girl, and get her to somewhere safe."

"You all should probably go too," Elisa said, tucking her badge and the precious medicine in her pocket.

"I am going to stay in case others need help," she insisted. "I am a retired nurse, and I would like to be here in case others need help."

"Those who can walk, please direct them to the bridge." Elisa nodded her thanks to the kind woman. "Be careful," she warned.

"You too, officer."

Turning, Elisa hurried back to the pizza place with the inhaler.

"Thank you, thank you," The mother cried.

"I have to go," Elisa said, pressing the box with the needed medicine into the mother's hands. "I need to see if I can help out there. Will you all be alright?"

"Yes," the owner said. He grabbed two large 'take out' sacks and filled them with bottles of water. "You take this, and make sure that others get help."

"I will," she said. "Thank you."

With that, she was out the door, and back in the streets. All around her now, there were people wandering. Elisa stopped and handed out a few of the waters to people, pointing them in the direction of the bridge and cursing the fact that _nothing_ in her life had prepared her for anything like this.

She was a detective. Sure, she'd been required to keep up with the first aid and crisis classes, but theoretical classroom situations were one thing. This was something completely different.

Her father had still been on the force when the bombing had happened at the World Trade Center in 1993. Six people had died and over a thousand others were injured. After the bombing, the New York Fire and Rescue teams had created new training scenarios in case of another attack.

Reality was something completely different and so, so much more horrific.

She felt useless.

Elisa had stopped to patch up a young man in a business suit who had a very obvious arm injury. Improvising, she used the man's coat and tie to make a sling. Flagging down a group of passing people, she made sure that they would stay with him and make sure that he was able to get across the bridge.

"Get him to a hospital or get the attention of any passing ambulances if you can," Elisa ordered.

"We got him," A young woman said.

Elisa walked another block, past St. Paul's Chapel, before she realized what had actually happened.

Where there were once two towers, there was now only one.

"Oh, my God," she said to herself.

She found herself walking towards the towers, and started seeing less civilians and more firefighters, emergency medical teams and police. Most were covered in the fine dust. Some were visibly hurt.

All looked more than a little dazed and lost.

Elisa looked into the plastic sack, and found that she was down to her last eight water bottles. She started handing them out to the rescue workers, glad to see that they were able to share amongst themselves and spreading the little bit out as much as they could.

Three blocks from the World Trade Center, Elisa found a firefighter. He was sitting on the curb, holding his head in his hands. Elisa rushed over to him, forcing a bottle of water into his hands.

"Thanks," he said in a gravelly voice that Elisa knew mirrored her own at that moment. He opened the bottle, dumping most of it over his head and face. He took a big drink of the cool liquid, then lowered it to the ground beside him. "It just came down," he muttered. "It just frigging came down."

Elisa put a hand on his shoulder as a hopeful measure of comfort. She hadn't thought about the people that had still been in the building, was trying not to think of it still. To give in to that thought was a frightening thing.

Not to mention the rescue teams that she might have known…

 _ **No.**_ She refused to let herself dwell on that. Later, perhaps, but not now.

"I have to get back there," The fireman said, getting wearily to his feet. "There are still people in the other tower. Still people coming out."

Elisa nodded, helping the man to his feet. Together, they walked in silence.

Chaos reigned at the site of the collapse. Rescue teams were hustling around, trying to regroup and come up with a plan. She could almost hear the words, " _ **What now?"**_ in everyone's thoughts.

"There were command centers set up in both towers. But the… the command center set up in Tower 1," The fireman beside Elisa said, "has been abandoned. Most of the people from my team aren't even answering their radios."

Elisa looked up at him.

"I was sent to help out in Tower 2," He continued. It was obvious to Elisa that he was not actually talking to her. She was not even sure if he knew she was still there. "It is my day off, and I got here late. I was in the lobby, and took over for the guy who had been trying to call all of the elevators to see if people were trapped in the cars."

"Were you able to find anyone?" Elisa encouraged.

"Yeah," He said, sighing. "There was this one elevator that had been stuck between the fifth and sixth floors. I was able to get it recalled to the first floor. The doors opened, and the people coming out had no idea what had happened." He looked to Elisa then. "They had been on their way to work when the damn plane had hit, and cut out the power. They had no idea what was happening. I was helping them out of the building when it must have started coming down. We ran…"

He drifted off into silence, and Elisa let him. She was starting to understand. It was finally, unwelcomely, starting to penetrate her numbed brain.

The elevator systems had shut down. That meant stairs. One hundred and ten stories of stairs a piece, between the two buildings.

How many people didn't make it out?

How many people couldn't?

Elisa tried to shove that thought away again.

 _ **Later.**_

There would be time later to think about that.

Groups of uniformed people... men and women, fire and police it didn't seem to matter anymore… and Elisa steered the firefighter in that direction with her. Everyone was trying to regroup, come up with a new plan. Radio Mayday calls were filling the air from every radio, as well as the high-pitched chirp of locator beacons that had been activated.

Elisa and the firefighter were still about a block away, when the sound started again. The sound that Elisa was certain was going to haunt her memories and dreams for years.

"Run!" Someone yelled, to be echoed by hundreds of voices as they all ran.

Even as she ran, she began feeling bits and pieces of debris striking her shoulders, her back, her uncovered head. The sound grew to nightmarish volumes, a roaring sound reminiscent of a mythical dragon, and the ground began to shake with the force of what Elisa knew was the second tower coming down.

What followed was a nightmarish scene. A rain of rocks, a wind filled with dust and loose papers from offices, the sound of metal and glass hitting the ground around her.

Hands roughly grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Elisa hit the pavement, her face inches from the deep tread of a car tire. A heavy weight hit her back, pressing her tightly to the ground. Large hands covered her face and head as more and more debris fell.

Once again, she was surrounded by the thick, choking dust cloud. If the first time felt like it took an hour to clear, this one easily took double that.

She could hear the person on top of her coughing in her ear, and could only be grateful for the person's help. A growing pile of pea and gravel sized rocks were falling all around her, but the person above her was shielding her from the worst of it.

Elisa was gasping from a combination of the dust and the weight on her back.

Finally, the rumbling stopped.

The ground ceased its trembling.

The dust began clearing.

The Earth did, in fact, continue to turn.

But, for the first time in Elisa's memory, the streets of Manhattan were silent. There were no voices, no people hurrying from place to place. No taxis, busses or cars.

The weight lifted from her back, but Elisa still couldn't move. Didn't want to move. The world had fallen apart around her, and she was afraid of what was going to happen next.

"You okay?" came the gruff voice of the fireman that she had helped earlier.

"I…" Elisa trailed off. _Was_ she okay? She honestly didn't know.

Seeming to understand, The fireman reached down and helped her to her feet.

He coughed. "You still have that water?"

Elisa looked around for the plastic sack, finding it beside the tire where her head had been. She pulled out the two remaining bottles, handing one to him.

"Thanks," He said, twisting the top off. "Rinse your mouth out first." He took a deep pull, swishing the water side to side in his mouth to rinse the dust and grit.

He spit it out on the curb, and Elisa followed suit.

Finally taking a large drink of water for himself. He rinsed off what he could of the dust clinging to his face, but was a lot more cautious of the water usage than before. He looked pointedly at her. "You use that last one for yourself, you hear?"

"Yes, sir," Elisa said, rinsing her own face off. She swished a second mouthful of water and spit it out in an effort to clear the remaining grit from her mouth before Elisa finally swallowed some.

"Don't call me sir," he insisted in what seemed like a habit. Like it was something that he said often and without real thought. "My name is Earl. Earl Jacobs."

"Elisa Maza," She answered back. "What do we do now?"

"Now," he said with a heavy sigh, "I go back to the site and see if I can find anyone who has an idea of what to do next."

Elisa nodded. "Let's go."

Earl looked surprised. "You don't have to go," He insisted.

Elisa dug out her badge from her back pocket and showed it to him. "Elisa Maza, NYPD."

He shook his head. "You should go back to your station and see if anyone there has a plan. You may be needed elsewhere."

Elisa looked up at him. "It would take me a long time just to get back there, and I think I would be of better use here," she insisted.

Earl nodded and gestured for her to follow him.


	20. Chapter 19

With a loud roar, Goliath broke free of his stone skin and stretched.

Blinking, he looked around and realized that he was not home. Not _his_ home.

He had gone into his stone hibernation in the courtyard of his and Elisa's home… and woke in the great hall of the castle. He looked around and spotted the rest of the clan, all of them, who were all similarly confused.

Every light in the room was blazing to make up for the fact that all of the windows had been covered. The great hall was one of the few rooms from the castle that had been kept in its original state, so there were no glass windows. There were two large fireplaces, one at each end, that even in the coldest of winter nights kept the room warm enough that actual window coverings were rarely needed.

Tonight, however, all the windows were covered with thick leather coverings, reminiscent of the ancient times the castle had been built in. Despite the coverings, an odd smell permeated the air from the outside.

"What has happened?" Angela spoke the thought that everyone was thinking.

"I do not know…" Goliath trailed off.

"Well, we'd better find out," Brooklyn stated. Concern was clearly etched on his face.

The large wooden doors at the entrance of the room opened, and Owen walked in.

"Hey, Laddie," Hudson called out in his thick scottish brogue. "Ye mind tellin' us why we are in here?"

"Of course," Owen said. "Mr Xanatos is on his way. He was finalizing security plans with his team, but is on his way back up to the castle now."

"Security plans?" Brooklyn was taken aback.

"What kind of security plans?" Goliath asked, suspicious. He may not be the official clan leader anymore, but this was still his clan. His family.

Why was he here, and not at his home with Elisa and Liam? Were they here as well? As that thought registered, he found himself looking wildly around the room.

Owen must have seen Goliath's searching gaze. "I assure you that the children are all fine." He said in his usual monotone voice.

"What happened?" Brooklyn asked. Something was not right here, and Owen was not going to give up information without being asked direct questions. Even then, he may not give direct answers.

Owen, for the first time in any of their memories, looked uncomfortable. "I ask you to be patient for a few more moments. Mr. Xanatos will tell you everything."

"Where is Elisa?" Goliath asked harshly. "Where is my son?"

"I can assure you that your son is fine," Owen hurried to say. "Elisa sent him here, to the castle, earlier today. After a visit with Dr. James here in the medical wing, where he was pronounced healthy enough to be able to play with the other children. He was given a room to nap in this afternoon and woke up feeling fine."

"Daddy!" came a small voice from the other end of the room. Goliath turned and spotted the small form of his adopted son moments before the child flung himself into his father's arms.

Goliath held his son close, sharing a concerned look with the clan before turning back to Owen. "Where is Elisa?"

"Mommy had to go help, dad," Liam said.

"Help?" Goliath asked, trying to coax the information from his son. "Help where?"

"I don't know," the boy admitted. "There was a lot of noise, and mom was scared. Mrs. Fitzgerald from downstairs was going to bring me here so that mom could go to work, but Owen came and drove us here."

Goliath gently set his son down and turned back to Owen. "Where. Is. Elisa?"

"Goliath," David Xanatos called from the doors. He strolled in with his usual confident air, but even that seemed off tonight. Fox Xanatos, his flame haired wife, followed behind him.

There was almost a visible aura of tension coming from the pair.

Goliath growled in frustration. "Will no one answer me?" His eyes began to glow under the force of his growing anger. "What has happened, and where is Elisa?"

"Goliath," Fox interjected, "I know that it is not in your nature, but I am going to ask you to be patient with us. It has been a long, difficult day, and we want you to have all of the information possible before you… Any of you," She looked to the entire clan where they stood in a half circle around their large comrade. "rush off into a situation that is already difficult enough for this city."

Goliath forced himself to take a deep breath. "Fine. Now, tell us."

Fox placed her hand on her husband's arm. "I will take Liam to the playroom where he can play with the other kids. Be patient," She ordered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Liam hurried over to his father, clutching him around one of his legs. "I want to stay with daddy."

Fox knelt down so that she was able to meet Liam's eyes. "I know, buddy. But right now, your daddy needs to go to work like your mommy."

Liam's eyes filled and he clung to his father a little tighter. "But what if he doesn't come home like mommy?"

Every clan member's attention swung towards the small human child. Did he know something that they hadn't been told yet?

Fox could sense the atmosphere change, and did her best to reassure everyone at once. "Your mommy's not here, because she's busy. We could hear from her at any moment, sweetie. Come on," She held out her hand. "Alex just got a hold of a new car racing game yesterday. Want to try it out?"

Liam looked suspicious. "Can we have some hot cocoa?"

Fox smiled, "How's your tummy?"

"Better," Liam insisted.

"O.K. We will give some hot cocoa a try."

"Dad?" Liam, excited at the prospect of the warm chocolate treat and a new game, still sought the approval of his father.

Goliath forced a small smile and nodded his agreement.

Liam reached out and took Fox's hand. He turned and waved goodbye to his father on the way out of the door.

Once the child was gone, attention once more turned to Xanatos.

"I will ask your patience on this, while I explain." Xanatos stated. "It has been a hard day for all of us, and I will do my best to get you caught up." He motioned for the clan to follow him. "Come this way."

The clan followed in silence, the only sound in the hallways was the tapping of talons against the stone as they filed down the hallway.

Xanatos led them to the media room, a large room that he had set up with numerous large screened televisions so that he could keep an eye on world events. For the first time since he had spent the day there, every television tuned to different station around the world. It had been a hive of activity, with Xanatos taking action to protect everyone in his care. His family, the clan and all of the employees in the building.

Once the sun went down, in deference to the clan and their reactions, he had thought ahead to turn the televisions off. He had been afraid to hit them with too much information too quickly.

The silence was deafening.

Xanatos leaned against the arm of the oversized leather chair, the only real piece of furniture in the room, and crossed his arms. He had spent a good part of the day trying to formulate how to start this conversation in his head. The later it got, with no word from Detective Maza, the more he dreaded the moment that the clan would awaken. Now that the moment was here, he decided that the direct approach would be best.

"Just before nine o'clock this morning, an airplane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center," He started, and proceeded to tell them the events of the day. He didn't soften the truth, but he didn't dramatize it either. He stuck to the facts that they knew and avoided the topic of who was at fault. It wouldn't do to point fingers, since that part was still unclear. All speculation would serve to do would be to rile the clan up, and that would help no one.

"Telephone communication is still pretty unreliable, and the cell towers are busy handling millions of phone calls." Xanatos said, trying to add a measure of comfort to the stunned clan. "Any attempts to contact Elisa through the communicators have also proven ineffective as well. As far as we can tell, Elisa may not have thought to take one of the clan communicators when she left home. We can't even guarantee that they would work right now with all of the radio, cell reception and electrical issues, anyhow."

"Has anyone heard from her?" Angela asked.

Xanatos shook his head. "No one has been able to get a hold of her, and she has not returned to her station. She has not stopped to check in with her captain, and while she did have her police radio on her, the radios are full of police, fire and emergency calls, so her call or response may have been missed."

Brooklyn and Goliath shared a look. This was something out of their worst nightmares.

"Perhaps it is time for us to see for ourselves," Goliath stated.

Xanatos nodded his understanding. He was vaguely impressed that Goliath was not tearing the castle apart in anger. The Gods only knew that that is exactly what he would be doing if the situation were reversed and the woman he loved was missing.

"Let's go out to the parapets," Xanatos suggested. "It may help for you to actually see it yourself, so that you could understand better what has happened."

Once again, Xantos found himself leading the way. The gargoyles wanted to know what they were dealing with, yet were afraid of what they were going to see.

He could understand only too well. He had been watching the situation all day, and was still having his own problems believing it all. When the first plane had hit, he had mobilized his security department and his iron clan around the building. When the second plane had hit, and it was obvious that this had been deliberate and not accidental, Xanatos had been grateful for Puck to come out and play. He sent Puck to go get Elisa, Liam and Goliath. When Elisa didn't come, but was sending another woman, Puck had had to improvise. He had donned his 'Owen' facade and created the illusion of a car to get the humans to safety. Once he had returned to the building, he had snapped his fingers and transported all of the gargoyles, Goliath included, inside the safety of the castle.

Xanatos had given orders to his security people to lock down the building, no one in or out without identification. The iron clan had been given the task to do whatever they needed to do to protect the castle and those within it.

Bracing one hand on each of the double doors leading outside, Xanatos took a steadying breath before pushing them open.

The Gargoyles instantly and involuntarily took a step backward. The smells hit them first. The smell of the fire and smoke mixed with the smell of the concrete dust and a trace of scorched metal.

Most of the clan had been alive during the viking attack that had left many of the castle's inner buildings on fire and most of the clan in stone pieces.

When the smell hit his nostrils, Goliath reeled back instinctively. The smell bringing back horrific memories of the original Wyvern Clan, and their ultimate destruction from betrayal. The clan had been reduced to dust while they slept during the day, the holdings in the castle courtyard burned to ash.

This smelled similar to that time, and it brought forth memories that none of them wanted to see repeated.

Goliath was the first to step forward. There, in the distance, was still a large plume of smoke rising. There was a lot of lights that had been set up in that area, otherwise the city was oddly quiet. There was no traffic noise, no people or auto noises were filling the night with its usual buzz. Even the buildings that were usually still brightly lit this early in the evening seemed abandoned.

"They're gone," Angela said, her voice catching. "They're really gone." Turning, she buried her head in Broadway's chest.

Broadway held her protectively, as he stared at where the two towers of glass and stone had stood only the night before. Having Xanatos tell them what had happened, and actually seeing it was something different altogether. While he was angered over the events of the day, he was also concerned with his mate's well being. She was due to deliver any day, and any upset was not good for her. Turning, he led his sobbing mate back inside.

Hudson laid a hand on Bronx's back and hung his head in sorrow. He had the most experience living in times of war, and had a more realistic idea of the loss of life that had occurred that day… and would still happen in the retaliation against who was responsible for this atrocity.

Lexington had hopped onto one of the outcroppings of the castle to be able to see for himself, stunned at the destruction that had hit their city.

Brooklyn leaned against the waist-high wall, his fists clenched and eyes lighting in his fury. "Who did this?" he snarled.

Xanatos had been staying back, letting them absorb what they were seeing. He stepped forward now.

"We don't exactly know," he admitted. "There are theories and accusations being thrown around right now, but we don't know for sure who is responsible."

"What _**do**_ you know?" Brooklyn snapped.

"I know that there were at least four planes that were hijacked today," Xanatos said. "Two collided with the two towers, one hit the Pentagon in Washington DC and the final plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. If there were going to be more, we don't know. The government shut down airports and grounded flights after it became known what was happening, so if there were going to be more planes used as weapons, they didn't have the chance."

Goliath stood, stoic as ever. His eyes were glowing a luminous white, the only outward show of his emotions. Someone had attacked his protectorate. Someone had threatened the safety of his friends and family. His wife was down there somewhere, he knew. She would not be able to stay out of the way if she thought she would be able to help, and he could only pray to the Gods that she was unharmed.

And all of this during the daylight, when they were unable to do anything.

"David!"

The raised female voice caught all of their attention.

"Fox," Xanatos said, turning to face her. "What happened?"

"I think I just saw Elisa," She said excitedly. "I think I caught a glimpse on the news!"

Together, the clan and the Xanatos' all hurried back inside. Goliath led the way this time, having outrun everyone in his haste to find out something about his wife.

" _ **Please let her be alive and unhurt,"**_ He begged whatever deities were listening.

He was scanning the many television screens, searching for any sign of Elisa, when Fox finally got back to the room.

"Damn, I forgot to pause it," she reached out and snatched up the remote control. Images started flying by on the screen in reverse as she searched for the news clip. "Here it is," she said, pressing play. The images were once again in their proper forward motions.

The newscaster was talking about the search and rescue efforts. All fire, police and medical personnel available where there. There were people coming from outside of New York to help as well. Other cities and states were sending volunteers, some coming from as far away as Canada.

"There!" Lexington said, pointing to the left side of the screen.

Fox paused the scene and backed up once more, slowly, frame by frame. "There," She announces, happy to finally find it again.

Goliath felt a spark of relief. There was a woman, hair and skin color lightened by the white dust coating her and the others, but it certainly looked like her. She wasn't wearing her familiar red leather coat, and it was only in a side profile, but it resembled their Elisa enough that Goliath grasped that image and held onto it.

Fox pressed play again, and now that everyone was focused only on the woman, they saw her pull out a small phone and start dialing before the camera panned past her.

She had been trying to call. She was not hurt, and she was not deliberately trying to keep them out of contact.

She was alive.

"Unfortunately," Fox admitted, "This is not a live newscast."

"Judging by the surroundings," Xanatos pointed out, "That must have been sometime around 5 o'clock."

"How can you tell?" Lexington asked.

Xanatos tapped the television image of a building in the background. "That is building seven of the World Trade Center. It was heavily damaged from falling debris and fire. It collapsed a little after five o'clock."

"And no one has gotten a phone call from her?" Lexington asked, concerned.

"No," Xanatos said. "I have left strict instructions with everyone in the building that any phone call from Detective Maza were to be transferred to my personal cell phone immediately."

Lexington frowned. "The cell phone towers and circuits must be completely swamped for the calls not to be going through."

"Everyone in the city is trying to call their friends and family at the same time." Fox said. "Even if she had her communicator, I'm not sure it would have the power to go through with all of the transmission issues and radio disruptions that are happening down there."

"We have to go help," Broadway said grimly from the doorway.

"Angela?" Goliath made the name a question. He had been unable to comfort his eldest daughter, but she had her mate to lean on.

Broadway shrugged. "She is upset, but Dr James says that he will keep an eye on her. I asked her to stay here and watch over the children."

Goliath nodded in agreement, placing a firm hand on Broadway's shoulders. "Thank you, my friend."

Broadway placed his hand briefly over Goliath's, then dropped it back to his side.

"I'll stay here and see if I can't boost the reception of Elisa's communicator and cell connection to the castle." Lexington offered.

"Can you do that?" Brooklyn asked.

Lexington shrugged. "Sure. I already boosted it once, when she was having problems with her phone connection while in the Labyrinth. I wanted to make sure that it could connect clearer from anywhere."

"You are freaking brilliant," Brooklyn said, forgetting for a moment about the tragic events that surrounded them.

"Just get going," Lexington said, heading for the door. "I will do what I can here. Take an extra communicator with you and give it to Elisa. I will keep an ear out for her call."

Xanatos broke in. "I will take it to her."

Goliath snarled, but Xanatos cut him off. "People down there are scared, Goliath. Airplanes and helicopters are grounded, so anything strange in the skies are going to be shot at. I know asking you all to stay here is useless, but I will ask you to stay to the rooftops and _away_ from the World Trade Center. For now."

Xanatos was seeing his words getting through, and hurried to assure him, "I am going to go down there myself, with my iron clan suit to help where I can. I will look for Elisa, and pass her the communicator for you so that you can talk to her yourself."

"He is right, Lad," Hudson said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Goliath didn't like it, and Hudson couldn't blame him, but he had to see reason before running off into an unknown situation.

"Alright," Goliath sighed. He _did_ understand, but he needed to hear her voice. He needed to _see_ her.

"I will leave now that I have seen and spoken to you. I _will_ find her, Goliath." He said, firmly.

With that, he turned and disappeared down the hall.

Goliath turned to the television once more, looking at that small female figure on the television. _**Please be alive**_ , he pleaded.


	21. Chapter 20

Elisa was so tired, her arms felt like rubber, but she couldn't stop. She had taken a short water break a few hours ago, and tried once more to call the castle.

Call her parents.

Call _**anyone**_.

Her stupid phone wasn't working, and any payphone within a mile was either out of order or had a line of people already there trying to call friends and families of their own.

A few people had survived the towers falling, and there was hope for more. That hope was keeping everyone there, pushing themselves to their limits. She was part of a bucket relay team, passing buckets full of ash and debris down the line, and tossing the empty ones back forward. As the buckets were moving, sometimes sharp bits of items would stick out, and Elisa's arms were covered in small scratches from the passing items. There were still patches of fire burning, and some of the rescuers were coming away singed. Elisa barely felt the nicks, cuts, bruises or burns anymore, however.

She was so tired, but she had to keep moving. There were people who could still be trapped in the rubble. Occasionally, demands for quiet were made from people at the front of the lines. Silence would descend, and she prayed for a voice. A call for help. Some sign that there were people alive, and all of this was not the useless endeavor it was beginning to feel like.

It was during one of the quiet times, just before building seven came down, that someone grabbed her and pulled her from the line. She was escorted to a first aid station to get patched up.

She had been forced to stop two more times.

Her long-sleeved shirt had started out the day as black. After the towers fell, it was lightened to a very light grey. Then the dusty arms were being turned red from the blood of all of the small cuts. As of ten minutes ago, her sleeves had been cut jaggedly off at the mid-bicep line to allow the medical staff on site access to her injuries.

She cursed having left her coat with her communicator in the pizza parlor. She had no way to contact the castle. Hell, she was having trouble getting a message through to her station to let them know that she was alright. There was so much police chatter on the radios, that even trying to get information out was impossible.

Elisa was working her tail off, but she was still trying to keep an eye out for anyone she recognized. Unfortunately, there were so many people there at the Trade Center that it was almost impossible to pick out one face over another. She still had hope that she would run into someone that she could recognize who would be able to get a message through to Captain Chavez.

Maria would know who to contact. She had a separate file under lock and key for her with all of the information on how to directly contact the castle and the clan. She also had a communicator to call the clan in case of an emergency.

She was sitting on a stretcher, staring at the small screen of the useless cell phone. At least someone had thought to lock the back of the stretcher up, so that it was more like a recliner than a bed. She was honestly not sure if she would be able to move again if she were to lay down. She had managed precious little sleep over the last few days, and was running on empty.

She was waiting to be re-bandaged up and cleared to go back to work, when a familiar voice reached her.

"Ah. There you are, detective."

Elisa sighed, closed her eyes in a kind of relief and leaned her head back against the stretcher back. "Xanatos, I don't think I have _ever_ been so happy to hear your voice." She opened her eyes wearily, and looked at the former criminal turned sort-of friend. It wasn't that she distrusted him, per se… but she was afraid to trust him 100% yet either.

Right now, however, she could have kissed him.

"Please, do not get sentimental on me, detective," He said, walking towards her. "I'm not sure I would know what to do."

Elisa frowned, noticing for the first time what he was wearing. The red and black metal robotic suit had been styled to mimic Goliath's size and strength. "Why are you in your powered armor?"

"One of the perks to having this on, is that it lets me handle things that I couldn't without it. Hot, cold, heavy," He shrugged. "and it requires about half as much physical effort, so I can work longer without tiring out. I may be of some use here to help."

"You ever think of using your powers for good, patenting that suit and selling it to people who could use it for good? Like rescue teams?"

"It crossed my mind," Xanatos said with a smile. "I already have the patent, and I am working on making a less lethal form of the suit for just that purpose."

"Less lethal?" Elisa asked.

"Well, we can't have this version," He gestured to his own suit, "Falling into the hands of the wrong people."

"Well, welcome to The Pile" Elisa said, exhaustion dragging at her since she had been forced into sitting for so long. If she remained in motion, it hadn't been so bad. Now, however… "The volunteer co-ordinator is over there somewhere." She said, pointing in a vague direction where crews were hurrying to set up tents and signs.

"Before I forget, I brought something for you," He said, holding an armor covered hand out to her.

Elisa reached out and almost cried when she felt the familiar shape of a communicator in his armor covered hand. She took it gratefully, and looked at Xanatos' face. "Thank you," She said.

"Don't thank me," he insisted. "You can do me a favor, however."

"What?" Elisa said.

"Talk to your husband," Xanatos insisted. He stepped forward and lowered his voice. "Goliath was moved to the castle as soon as we were able to get him there. The clan is understandably upset, and chomping at the bit to get down here. I have held them off so far, but it is only a matter of time before they will want to get down here to try and help."

"I know," Elisa said. "I'm surprised they agreed to hold off."

"They did not want to," He said. "It took some convincing. Goliath, however, would not stay behind without knowing that you are all right. He's up there," He nodded towards the surrounding buildings. "Somewhere. Waiting impatiently for me to find you and give you that communicator."

Elisa put her earpiece in. Gingerly, she moved her hands to her pockets and pulled out her telephone to use as a prop. She had learned from previous experiences that the illusion helped. She didn't want it to look like she was a crazy person talking to herself.

"Hey, Guys. Are you there?" She asked.

"Elisa!" came a chorus of voices. She was happy to hear from them, but she hadn't heard the one voice she most wanted to hear at that moment. "Big Guy? Are you there?"

There was a pause, and Elisa held her breath.

"Elisa, I am here." Goliath's voice a deep rumble that made her heart leap. He was alive. Safe.

"Oh, thank god," She said softly, her voice breaking, and she was terrified that she was going to start crying.

She had seen it more than once that day. Grown men, the toughest that she knew, finally reaching their breaking point. Once they started letting their grief show, some of them couldn't stop. They either became so angry they were barely functional or began crying and so hysterical they had to be sedated. Some seemed to retreat into themselves, becoming numb to everyone and everything around them. Elisa was honestly unsure which group she would fall in with at the moment, but was afraid to find out.

"I am so happy to hear you, Goliath. To hear all of you," She added for any extra ears that may be listening. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone is fine," Goliath answered. "Are you alright, Elisa? What is wrong with your arms?"

Elisa looked around. He was close. Close enough to see that her arms had bloody bandages on them. Elisa saw the EMT walking towards her with a small, paper wrapped sterile kit with him.

"I'm fine, Big Guy." She hurried to assure him. "We've been busy searching through rubble and there are a lot of little things in there to catch your skin on. I just have a few little cuts, that's all."

"Little cuts, hell," Terry, the Medical Technician muttered.

"What?" Elisa asked, still holding the phone to her ear in case she had to talk to the clan.

"You have at least one major one that is going to require stitches," He said. "Probably two or three."

Elisa groaned. "Please, tell me you're joking."

"I'm not joking," Terry said. "Not today. And not when this is going to be no party for you, either."

"What is going on?" Goliath demanded. "What is he talking about?"

"Hold on, Big Guy," Elisa said, absentmindedly. "Define "no party", Terry"

Goliath was silent on the other end. They all were. Elisa could almost see them all holding their collective breaths.

Terry started unrolling the paper, exposing a sterile kit needed to give stitches. "We don't have a lot of painkillers, saving the few that we have for those who have major injuries. We are completely out of the good numbing stuff, as well. We sent someone on a run for more, but they haven't made it back yet. I can offer you lidocaine as a topical, but it won't be completely painless."

Elisa sent him a withering look. "You have _got_ to be kidding me. If you think you are going to be sewing me together with no kind of painkiller, you are out of your freaking mind."

Terry sent her an answering look. "I can either do it here, or you can go to the hospital. Either way, you are done for the night. Look," Terry said warily. "You look like you haven't slept in days, and you have managed to tear open a healing stitched wound from an injury that looks like you got earlier this week. I know that you have been here most of the day, because _**I**_ have been here most of the day and have patched up most of the people here at least once." He pointed a finger at her, "That _**includes**_ you, by the way. Go to the hospital. Get the good painkillers, a tetanus shot and antibiotics." Terry rolled the kit back up, putting it with the other instruments that would need sterilizing later. "Then you go home. Spend some time with your family. Hug your kids. Get some sleep."

"But," Elisa started.

Terry cut her off. "I'm not even going to give you the option. You need stitches on the gash in your left arm, and I am officially telling you to go to the hospital. We have more people than we actually need here, and more are coming all the time. There are even off duty military people volunteering and coming in. Go. Get sewn up and get some rest. Let your family know that you aren't one of the missing people."

Goliath's voice broke in. "If you can get to a nearby alley, I can take you back to the castle. Dr. James can help you, and you can be safe with all of us."

Elisa closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Alright. You win. I'll go."

"Detective," Terry said softly. "you have been here all day, and took part in finding a few people, including all those firefighters and policemen in that stairwell." He helped her to her feet, wrapped her arms in gauze bandages to offer her wounds protection from further contamination. "You have gone above and beyond when anyone would have asked of you today. Please, go home and be with your loved ones."

"Only if you promise to do the same."

"As soon as I possibly can," Terry promised. "Do you have a way to get to a hospital? I would send you to Belleville Hospital, but they're swamped because they are closest one here to send the injured to. If you are able to go farther in, Manhattan General, Mount Sinai or Columbia University Medical Center will be able to get you in and out the fastest."

"I have a ride." Elisa assured him. "And thank you."

Terry gave her a wave, and headed on to the next patient.

"Where can I meet you, Goliath?" Elisa asked, tiredly.

"I can see you now, Elisa," Goliath said, softly. "Turn left down the next alley, and I will meet you there."

Elisa began walking North, picking her way through the ankle deep piles of dust and debris. The windows and walls of the buildings around the work site was already covered in missing posters. At the first alley, she turned to her left and walked as far to the center as she could expecting Goliath to already be there.

Instead, she was greeted with the soft "whoosh" of his wings cutting through the air. Elisa tucked her arms to her chest to protect them just in time for Goliath to gather her up and soar into the air with her.

Up into the sky they went, soaring with the wind currents as Goliath turned them towards the castle atop the Aerie building.

"Elisa," Goliath said, quietly. "Are you alright?"

"I am as alright as I can be," Elisa said, quietly.

Goliath growled a little in his throat, the only sign he gave that he had heard her. Elisa felt the rumble under her cheek, where it lay against his chest, and found comfort in the familiarity of it all. How many times had they flown together through the skies, working her regular patrol routes and simply enjoying being with each other?

Feeling helpless to help Elisa, to help the city that he had taken under his protection, he held his love closely and let the wind carry them to the castle.


	22. Chapter 21

They continued on silently. Goliath knew that Elisa was not as unaffected as she was trying to appear. She worked her way through difficult and tragic events by concentrating on the "what comes next". She had been awake for almost two full days now, having probably spent the day working with her fellow officers side by side as they worked to find survivors of the tragedy that had happened. She would still be there, he knew, if it weren't for her injuries, no matter how severe they would be. He loved her guardian spirit, but cursed it sometimes too, as she would push herself to complete exhaustion in difficult situations.

Finally, Castle Wyvern came into view, and he used the updraft to lift them up and over the stone walls. Bringing them down for a soft landing, he looked up to see the rest of the clan waiting silently in the great hall. He kept Elisa in his arms, feeling her reluctance to speak to anyone right now, and carried her inside.

Elisa was thankful once again for just how intuitive Goliath could be. Rather than setting her down in the middle of the clan, all of whom were probably wanting a full accounting of the events of the day, Goliath cloaked his wings around her and carried her through the crowd.

Elisa reached up and placed her hand against his cheek. "You can put me down, Big Guy," she said softly. "I won't break."

Goliath thought that was yet to be seen. Sincerely worried about her state of being, but he set her gently on her feet.

Fox, having heard that Elisa had been found and was on her way back to the castle entered the room to offer her help. What she saw surprised her so much she actually stumbled a step.

Elisa, never really one who seemed too concerned about her outward appearance, looked as though she had been to hell and back. She probably had been, Fox admitted to herself. Coated head to toe in a fine white powder, both her hair and olive skin tone was several shades lighter. There were tracks in the grit on her face, from water, sweat or tears, it was hard to tell. Her long sleeve shirt was ripped in places, her sleeves had been hacked off unevenly and her arms were in need of medical attention.

"Dr. James should be here any minute," Fox said. "Or would you prefer to go to his office?"

Elisa sent a furtive look around the room. She was happy that the clan was all there, all alive and appeared to be well… but she truly did not want to be around them when she was getting patched up. She didn't want to talk about things just yet, and she certainly did not feel up to reliving the events of her day.

Not yet.

"I think going to his office would be better," Elisa said, quietly. "I would rather not take the chance of Liam walking in on seeing me getting sewn back together."

Fox nodded her understanding, and took her walkie-talkie off of her belt. She passed the information on to Dr. James, and was met with the response that he would be waiting in the clinic.

Goliath and Fox shared a brief concerned look, for once in complete understanding. Elisa was being too quiet, too still. She had witnessed what had previously been unimaginable, and in the coming days, she would probably be hearing the names of people that she had known who hadn't made it out.

They couldn't shield Elisa from that, but for right now they could let her have control over the little things.

"The doctor will be waiting for you," Fox assured the couple. "Don't worry about anything up here. The clan has decided that it be best they stay indoors tonight. Liam is curled up asleep in our spare room, but knows that you are okay."

Elisa nodded. She wanted to see her son, see that he was fine with her own eyes. On the other hand, she was afraid of the feelings that had been bubbling and rising to the surface ever since she had first heard Goliath's voice at the work site.

If she did break down, which she was terrified to do, she wanted as few witnesses as possible.

Elisa started putting one foot in front of the other, moving silently to the elevators that would take her down to the medical floor. She was finally starting to feel the exhaustion, now that the adrenaline of the day was wearing off. She found herself stumbling, but before she could fall, strong arms were there to catch her.

Goliath lifted her into his arms gently, and carried her into the elevator himself. He knew she could be stubborn, wanting to do everything on her own and under her own power. Her independence was a trait that he admired… and, yet, it got her into trouble sometimes.

Knowing that she would probably collapse soon if she continued on like this, he did not give her a choice.

They rode the elevator in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When the elevator's bell signaled their arrival on the medical wing, he felt Elisa jump a little. He gave her a gentle squeeze before exiting the small metal car and walked into the sterile white waiting area outside of the examination rooms.

Dr. James was there waiting for them.

Elisa had to give him credit. He didn't cringe away as everyone else who had seen her since her return to the castle. He had truly grown in his time working with the clan, and had gained a lot of the clan's stoicism. Not much seemed to shake him anymore, which was a good thing since he never knew what was going to be coming his way next.

Elisa had first met him years ago, the night of the Hunter's moon when she had accidentally gotten in trouble during an altercation between The Hunters and the gargoyles. She had gotten in the way and been knocked off of the top of a very large dam that had resulted in a long swim in the Hudson River. The doctor had treated her during the only case of walking pneumonia that Elisa had ever had.

Along with some minor injuries here and there over the years, Dr. James had become her favorite physician.

He was friendly, even though he had developed a real no nonsense kind of air about him. He was a great person, but you did **not** want to mess with his medical practice. He had been helped by the gargoyles before he had gotten hired on here at Xanatos Enterprises, and had loved the chance to get to work with them as well as the human inhabitants of the building. He even had his own apartment, rent free of course, on the same floor as his offices.

Elisa didn't know how he did it. He was basically on call at all hours of the day, living literally one door down from where he worked, and he managed to stay sane. She loved her job, but she felt like she would have gone a little crazy living in the police station.

"Well, now," Dr. James said, his medical persona coming out in full force. "Miss Maza, let's see those arms."

Elisa raised her eyebrows at that. "Since when is it "Miss Maza"?

"Since you have had a really crap day, the likes of which I may never know" He said. "Now, let's have a look at your arms."

Elisa followed him to an examination room, the largest corner one, since Goliath would want to be there. Actually, she wanted him near because she felt like he was her anchor. His being near was helping her keep it together.

"Here," Dr. James motioned towards the table. "You have a seat while I go get the things I will need." He reached into a small cabinet near the door, pulling out a sleeveless medical gown and tossing it in the direction of the table. "I will need you to change into this, so that I can get to those cuts."

Goliath reached out, catching the bit of cloth in one hand as the doctor left the room.

Elisa sighed wearily. "Honestly, I am _not_ looking forward to this." Gritting her teeth, Elisa began trying to peel the ruined sleeves of her shirt off of her arms. The bandages that she already had, combined with the blood that had dried the shirt to her, made it difficult to accomplish the simple task.

Goliath placed the clean gown on the table and reached out to help his wife. He could see the frustration, the anger and the sheer exhaustion playing across her face. Gently, he aided her efforts to free her arms and pulled the ruined garment over her head. He placed the torn and dirty shirt on a chair nearby.

Picking up the clean gown, he held it out to her. Gingerly, Elisa put her arms through the holes, and Goliath attempted to tie the strings at her back.

"It's okay, Big Guy," Elisa said, knowing that he was struggling with the ties. "They'll be fine."

Goliath grumbled, but gave up. Instead, he picked Elisa up and set her on the edge of the table.

Elisa grabbed hold of his hand, and simply held it. They waited in silence a few more minutes, but Dr. James was soon back in the room.

He gave her an injection of painkillers, a healthy dose of antibiotics, and spent a good amount of time cleaning the wounds. He visibly cringed when he got a look at the large gash that did indeed require stitches.

Elisa sat stoically through it all. The numbing agent helped her to get through the washing of the dust and debris bits from her skin. The repeated irrigation of the wounds that flushed even more out, loosening up the areas where the blood had clotted, making the wounds bleed afresh. She found herself watching the careful stitches the doctor was putting in with a kind of morbid, detached curiosity.

Two hours, twenty three stitches total and a tetanus shot later, he was finished. "Now, I know that this is not what you want to hear, Detective," He said, putting fresh gauze dressing on her arms. "But you need to take it easy. No heavy lifting and no getting your arms wet until the stitches are able to come out."

Elisa groaned. "Doc, I need a shower," she whined. When she heard herself, she cringed inwardly. She never whined, and hated females that did so. "I just need to get this off of me," She said, a little steadier, gesturing at all of the dust and ash covering her.

"You can have a bath," Dr. James conceded. "But you need to keep your arms dry so that they can heal properly. Luckily, you didn't completely re-open your gunshot wound, but the stitches tore the skin around them from the heavy physical activity. I already gave you a healthy dose of antibiotics here, but you are also going to have some pretty heavy duty antibiotics that you are going to have to take at home." Dr. James reached inside a cupboard above the room's tiny sink. "Two tablets, twice a day, for the next ten days."

Elisa, resigned now, took the foil wrapped antibiotic packets that he was holding out to her.

"Goliath," Dr. James said. "I'm counting on you to help me out on this one."

"I will do my best," Goliath answered.

"That is all I can ask," Dr. James said with a knowing smile. "Give me a moment to type up my after care instructions and get you something for pain, then you will be free to go."

Elisa nodded. "Thanks, doc."

Dr. James left the couple in the room. Walking two doors down, on the left hand side, he ducked into his office. He sat at his desk, folded his arms on the surface and laid his head on his arms. He had been following the news with the rest of the world. He had called the various medical facilities and offices in the area, offering his services. He had been told that they appreciated the offer, and they would call when his services were needed.

They had all been expecting survivors, but his phone had never rang.

He could only imagine what it had been like there. He had received his medical training in the army at the age of eighteen, and had seen his fair share of tragedy there.

Nothing on the scale of what had just happened, however.

Elisa was a strong woman, but even strong people could break.

The longer his telephone went without ringing, the more he was certain that there would be few, if any, survivors. Those towers had disintegrated into dust.

He sighed deeply. Sitting up, he decided to focus on the things that he could do. He could make sure that Elisa was taken care of. Her wounds had been sewn up and she had people to watch over her, but he was still concerned about her mental state.

For one, she wasn't fighting him. He could count on one hand over the last eight years that _**that**_ had happened. Hell, he wouldn't need to use more than two or three fingers to count those special occasions.

He sat up, and continued with his duties. He typed up the instructions for the care of her injuries, knowing full well that that there was a good chance that Elisa would ignore them. While the document was printing, he went to his medicine cabinet and took out two bottles.

One of which was a pain reliever, and the other was an anxiety medication to help Elisa in case she needed help dealing with the aftereffects of the events she had been witness to.

" _ **She won't take it,"**_ a small voice in his head said. Even knowing that it was true, he took the bottle anyway.

He did make one phone call before going back into the patient room. He called Fox, and asked for her help on Elisa's behalf.

Back in the room in the clinic, Goliath gingerly took Elisa's hands in his own. "Elisa," He said, quietly. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry," Elisa said. She brought their joined hands up and rested her forehead there. "I tried calling over and over. First I couldn't get through, then the buildings were falling, and...then…" Elisa's voice caught. Goliath felt the warmth of her tears hitting his skin, and felt helpless to comfort her. He freed up one of his hands, and wrapped the arm around her shoulders.

Elisa cried in silence, shoulders shaking so hard Goliath thought her delicate frame would break. He gently moved her from the table to his large arms where he held her as gently as he would an injured child. He had found over the years that when Elisa had been truly hurt, she would sometimes push people away. However, he had also learned that those were the times when she most needed to be held or comforted.

This was no exception. Goliath rested his chin on the top of her head, and cursed the Gods that had allowed this to happen.

It was during this time that Dr. James returned. No matter how she was trying to hide it, there was no way to completely hide the fact that Elisa was crying. Dr. James opened the bottles, retrieving two tablets from the bottle with the pain medication in it, and one tablet of the anti anxiety medication for good measure.

He took a small bottle of water out of the mini fridge in the room and opened the top. He held both hands out to show Goliath what he had. Slowly, reluctantly, Goliath lowered an arm to expose Elisa's face.

Knowing that this was going to help her, at least for tonight, Dr James pressed the small tablets into Elisa's hand. He stayed in the room long enough to make sure she swallowed them, then he left the medicine bottles and instructions on the counter beside the door. He motioned for Goliath to follow him out, and waited in the hallway.

A few moments later, the large gargoyle entered the hallway and closed the door quietly behind him.

"I left you the instructions and medication that she needs to take." Dr James said, his no nonsense facade was firmly back in place. "Elisa _needs_ to take the antibiotics from those blister packs I gave you earlier, or she may get an infection from all of the debris she's been digging in."

Goliath nodded.

"The two bottles I just gave you, the first is a pain medication. I know that Elisa doesn't like to take them, but she will be in quite a bit of pain once the shock wears off." He waited for Goliath's acknowledgement before continuing. "Now," Dr. James said, trying to sound firm yet sympathetic. "The second bottle is a medication called Xanax. It is for anxiety and depression. Elisa's not going to want to take that one, either, but I am going to urge you to give it to her for a day or two just to help her cope."

Goliath frowned. No, Elisa would not want the medication, and helpful or not, she probably would not thank them for it, either.

"She may have some trouble being able to sleep, but the Xanax should help with that." Dr. James continued. "I am sending her captain a fax with my personal recommendation that she has a week or two off because of her injuries. Realistically, I need her to at least take one full week off to give those stitches time to start healing before even resuming light duty. Knowing Elisa, she's not going to want to take even that much time off."

Goliath knew what the doctor was getting at. "I will try to convince her to take it easy."

"But we both know how she is," Dr. James finished. "She's not going to want to stay at home, and honestly, they may need every officer on call for a while."

Goliath nodded his understanding.

"For now, just try to keep her calm, comfortable and have her get as much rest as possible. Take her home if that is where she would like to be, so that she can be in her own place, her own bed. I don't think that she should be left alone for a few days. Give her family a call and see if someone can stay with her during the day." Dr. James patted his coat pocket, "I have my phone on me at all times, so you should call if she needs anything. And I mean _anything_."

Goliath nodded his understanding.

"The Xanatos' have a large amount of services at their disposal, and I would urge you to take advantage of them. One of the things is a couple of shops on the lower floors for those who work here and can't get away during the day. Fox has contacted a few of the shops who are sending their people over. They will bring up some warm, loose clothing for Elisa, since her shirt is ruined and her coat missing. There is also a hairdresser on their way to help wash the dust and debris out of Elisa's hair. I spent a lot of time cleaning those wounds, and the last thing she needs is that stuff getting into the wounds again. Plus, she will probably feel a little better when she is clean.

"In the meantime, I took a look at Liam. He had a bit of a stomach bug yesterday. He is resting, and seems to be getting over it just fine. He can stay here if you prefer, at least for tonight. I have already cleared it with Fox Xanatos, and we will all keep an eye on him for as long as you need us to."

"Thank you," Goliath said, offering his hand to the doctor.

Dr. James shook his hand, and took his leave. He did not envy the couple for what they were going to face in the next few days or weeks. The Gargoyles' protective instincts and need to ensure the safety of those within their territory would be suffering right now.

There was little, if anything they could do right now.


	23. Chapter 22

Goliath carried Elisa back to the castle levels.

She was still wrapped in the clinic's thin gown rather than trying to fit her arms back into the sleeves of her ruined shirt.

Goliath was worried about her staying warm for the trip back to the apartment without something more substantial, so he accepted the Xanatos' offer of the warm clothing. It was a short trip by air, but it was long enough for a human to get cold.

Goliath met with Fox, and left his wife in her care. He called the clan together to update them on what had happened and what he had seen while he had been waiting for Xanatos to find Elisa at the site of the tragedy.

Goliath knew that there would be a few people coming up who were not familiar with the Clan, and explained their presence to them. They all knew that Elisa needed the help, and even though they were worried for their friend and wanted to be with her, they made themselves scarce until her needs had been taken care of.

Soon, two young women came to the castle, carrying a selection of jeans and warm tops. Elisa tried to help as much as she could, but she was forced to accept help from the two young women who had delivered the clothing. Grateful that they had chosen tops with oversized sleeves, so that they didn't interfere with her bandages.

Fox's personal hair stylist came to the castle level shortly after. She was very gentle, supportive and calm. She washed Elisa's hair, using both shampoo and conditioner three times before all of the grit was gone from the detective's hair.

Elisa was not sure what the medication was that Dr. James had given her, but she was feeling the effects. It was not wholly unpleasant, but it was a level of almost numbness that she had not experienced before. It was almost as if she were watching everything happen to someone else and not feeling anything.

By the time that she was clean and dressed again, she was feeling more than a little out of it. The ladies had all left, and Fox was leading her back to the library.

Fox was pretty much carrying her through the halls by the that time.

Fox took her to the library, where she knew that Goliath would be able to find her. It was one of the rooms in the castle that provided a measure of privacy, as well as a more… friendly atmosphere. It was not as well lit as the rest of the castle, and there was a seating area near the fireplace to aid in warmth.

Goliath had wanted to take her home, Fox mused. But judging by how out of it Elisa was, Fox was willing to bet that he would see reason and just keep her at the castle for the day.

Goliath had hated leaving her alone, even though it was only for a short time. She wasn't really alone, he reasoned with himself, because she had Fox with her.

Fox was not going to let him down. She and David had done enough damage to the clan in the past, that she had made a conscious effort to never do so again. They were, after all, one of the main protectors of the castle and her children. They would lay their lives on the line for her family.

How could she do anything else but the same?

Fox put the tranquilized, barely awake detective in one of the oversized couches arranged in a sitting area near the fireplace.

One of the modernizations to the castle that David had made was installing gas lines to the many fireplaces. Lighting a fire to warm the room now only took the flip of a switch. Once that was done, Fox gazed absently into the flames, deep in thought.

 _ **Goliath is probably still meeting with the clan,**_ she thought. _**Otherwise he would be here waiting.**_

Fox sank onto a loveseat opposite Elisa, leaned her head back and closed her eyes. It had been a hell of a day. She had spent most of the day in fear that whoever had been flying those planes would aim one at the Aerie Building… It was one of the tallest buildings left in Manhattan now. Granted, David had made this place as safe as he could, but there were always ways to get in.

As a reformed thief and all around criminal, she knew that better than anyone.

As she watched, Elisa began sliding sideways, unconscious.

Fox hurried to the detective's side, helping to lower her gently into a comfortable sleeping position.

It was then that Fox heard the familiar sound of the steel clan suit's thrusters outside, and hurried to the main hall to meet her husband.

He almost looked as bad as Elisa had when she had arrived. He was covered head to steel toe in the white gritty dust. His armor had received its fair share of dings and scratches as well. He looked exhausted and discouraged, a look so foreign to himself that Fox was truly alarmed.

"David?" She called out quietly.

David began roughly taking off the armor right there in the main hall, practically throwing individual pieces across the hall. It was something he had never done before and Fox hurried forward to help him.

Once David's arms were free, however, he scooped his wife up and simply held her for support.

"How bad is it?" Fox asked.

"It's bad," He replied grimly. "I tried to help as much as I could… but there is simply nothing there to find. No people. No personal property for the families of the missing to have. Nothing is left."

Fox closed her eyes and lay her head on her husband's shoulders. She had expected as much. How anyone could survive that kind of destruction was nothing short of a freaking miracle. They had found a few people who had been in reinforced stairways or underground tunnels, but there were going to be a lot more lives that had been lost.

Parents, children, siblings, family and friends… just gone.

The couple stood there, holding each other in their grief.

Goliath made his way to the old throne room. They had affectionately come to call the room the "war room" in the last couple of years. With the computers, television screens and monitors, it was a place for them to better coordinate their patrol routes and keep up with any happenings around the city.

"Father!" Angela called out as Goliath entered the room. She was trying to rise to her feet. "How is Elisa?"

Goliath motioned for her to remain seated, as the rest of the clan echoed her question.

"Aye," Hudson said, once the noise had gone down. "How is the lass?"

"She will be fine," Goliath said, trying to sound confident and all the while hoping that he was right. "She has had her wounds taken care of, and is getting cleaned up and clothed. I will take her home shortly."

"What about Liam?" Brooklyn asked.

"Liam will stay here at the castle tonight, and I will come and fetch him tomorrow." Goliath stated. "I want to let Elisa have all the rest that she can get right now."

"We will help watch over Liam," Angela assured him.

"Thank you," Goliath said softly, looking from familiar face to familiar face. "Thank you all."

"Elisa and Liam are family," Broadway said firmly.

"You don't need to thank us for watching out for family," Lexington said.

Goliath bowed his head to the clan in gratitude.

"The question now is," Hudson said, calling everyone's attention back to the events at hand. "What are we to do about our city?"

Plans were discussed, dismissed and revised. It was decided that, for the next few nights, the clan would stay inside the castle unless needed. When they resumed their routes, they would then avoid the area around the World Trade Center areas until it was deemed safe.

With promises of returning the next night, Goliath moved on to his next task.

He found David and Fox in the Great Hall. Thanking them for the help with Elisa and offering to watch over Liam.

"Don't worry about that," Fox said, a genuine look of worry in her eyes. "Elisa is in the Library. Take care of her tonight, and don't worry about anyone here. We have the castle defenses on high alert, and Puck is watching over the clan and the castle as well."

"Puck?" Goliath exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," Fox said, crossing her arms and smiled slyly. "Puck was given permission from Oberon to use his powers in the protection and training of Alex. Then again to the training and protection of Christopher and Victoria. There is an interesting loophole that we found, in that part of the children's safety is having the Gargoyles here, and so," She shrugged, "anything that threatens the Gargoyles, threatens Alex's safety as well."

Goliath was surprised. Oberon had not been a big fan of the clan when he had retreated with his children back to Avalon. The fact that Puck was using his powers, no matter how little, in order to keep them safe would probably not go over well.

"I really wish you would reconsider staying here tonight," Fox said. "I am worried about having you and Elisa in the air and getting shot out of the sky."

Goliath nodded. "Thank you for your concern, but I think it would be best having Elisa in the familiar surroundings of our home."

The human couple nodded their heads in understanding.

"Go," David urged him. "Go take care of your wife."

Goliath nodded his thanks once more, and went into the library.

Elisa was not there.

He didn't panic right away, opting to turn on the electric lights and searching the library thoroughly. When it was clear that she was not there, he went out into the castle to resume the search.

"Goliath," Hudson called as he was on the way to the media room for the night. "I thought ye'd already left. Where is Elisa?"

"You haven't seen her?" Goliath asked.

"Nae, lad," Hudson shook his head. He frowned, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I have not seen her since you returned with her hours ago."

"Gather the clan," Goliath said, "Find out if anyone has seen her."

"Seen who?"

Goliath turned to see his daughter, Angela, walking towards them.

"Elisa," Goliath said. "She is missing."

Angela frowned. "But I just saw her."

"Where?" Goliath asked, harsher than he had wanted, but his worry was making it difficult to hold on to his patience.

"She asked where Liam was," Angela said hesitantly. "I showed her where his room was."

"Show me as well," Goliath said, relief filling him.

Angela turned and led the way down to the family rooms. Angela quietly opened a door near the end of the hall. Stepping back, she allowed her father to go in alone.

Goliath placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, a show of support as much as apology for his tone before and entered the room.

Elisa was there, curled up on the bed asleep with their son held protectively in her arms.

Goliath felt his heart give a hard thump in relief. They were both safe and sleeping peacefully.

Rather than wake them, Goliath draped the clothing for Elisa on the lone chair in the room. He knelt beside the bed, content to watch his small family sleep.


	24. Chapter 23

Just before sunrise, Elisa started moving restlessly in her sleep.

The abrupt movements woke Liam, and Goliath gently removed him from his mother's arms.

Goliath carried the small, sleepy child to the castle's nursery where the Xanatos children were playing. The children were so used to being awake all night, having their lessons via private tutor and Owen, that they were still wide awake.

"Liam!" came a tiny female voice.

Goliath set his son down, and watched as the tiny girl with the black hair ran towards them. Out of the three Xanatos children, Victoria was the only one to inherit David Xanatos' black hair. She was somewhat of an oddity, having two brothers who had their mother's flame red hair. She was a sweet girl, and at age 3, worshipped the ground that the older boys walked on.

She had a special affection for Liam, and grabbed him in a tight toddler hug. "Liam, Puck showed me a new trick!"

"Show me," Liam said with a yawn and a smile.

Goliath admired his son for his patience with the girl. He knew that Liam had taken the young girl under his wing… so to speak… and was always ready to jump to her defense when her brothers were giving her a hard time.

With as petite as Victoria was, she did her best to return the favor. If the boys got out of line, she was there, ready to deliver a scathing retort and a swift kick to the shins.

Knowing that his son was going to be fine for the day, surrounded by his friends and extended family, Goliath returned to the room where Elisa still slept.

He was a few steps from the door yet, when a scream erupted from the room. He fairly tore the door off its hinges when he burst into the room. Ready for a fight, he snarled and crouched in the doorway.

There was only Elisa, sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her head in her hands.

"Sorry, Goliath," Elisa said, not raising her head. "Just a nightmare."

Goliath forced himself to calm down, draping his wings over his shoulders once more. He walked slowly and carefully towards where she sat, and knelt in front of her.

He took her hands in one of his, and gently turned her face up to meet his.

She looked as if she had seen a ghost. There was a vacantness to her expression that scared him. She had been through so much in the time that they had known each other. Bad guys, kidnapping attempts and even a few near drownings.

Almost ten years ago, during a fight with the Canmore Hunters, she had fallen off of the Croton RIver Dam and nearly drowned. A short time later, she had almost drowned again in a freak accident in the Labyrinth after a rainstorm had made part of the roof collapse, trapping Elisa inside with a rising water level and no way to get out on her own.

It had taken both the Labyrinth Clan of mutates and the Wyvern clan of Gargoyles to free her.

She had some panic attacks for a time after that, but true to Elisa's nature, she had managed to overcome the worst of it.

But he had never seen this look in her eyes. Sheer terror and a deep well of grief were in her eyes.

Goliath had an understanding, having lost most of his clan to a vicious viking attack in one day. But he had arrived after the deed was done. Elisa had been there, watching while it happened.

Names were starting to be announced now, Goliath had heard, of those who were known to have perished in the horrible events of the day…

Many of which were police, fire and rescue personnel. Some of which may have been friends of Elisa.

There were tough days ahead for her, he knew, and there was precious little he could do to help her.

He sat on the bed next to her, holding her close until the last possible moment he had. Over the centuries, he had often lamented the fact that his race was not given the chance to stay awake after the sun rose. Stone sleep was both a blessing and a curse.

Today, he truly cursed the sunrise. He was needed here. The love of his life needed him, needed the support.

She needed not to be alone, and it was only a small measure of comfort knowing that she would be here, in the castle today with the Xanatos' protection.

Goliath felt the tingling of his skin, letting him know that the sun was about to light the sky. He hurried to help Elisa take her medicine, including the hated anti-anxiety pill, so that he could make sure that she at least took it.

Once the pills had been swallowed, Goliath helped her to lay back down. He talked to her quietly for as long as he could, mostly about their son. Anything but the events of the day.

Elisa appeared to be settling back in for more rest when Goliath was forced into the stone sleep.

Once Goliath had become stone once more, Elisa got out of bed. She was not tired, and did not want to go back to sleep anytime soon. Her dreams had been full of that roaring sound as those buildings had fallen, and the screams of the people on the street. She did not yet have the information on what had truly happened other than her own suppositions.

Oh, there had been news being passed around on the ground, but rumors of more planes and terrorists had run rampant. It was hard to know fact from fiction, especially when communications had been so difficult at the site.

Elisa was still fully dressed in the clothing that Fox's people had brought to her, so she didn't have to face trying to get dressed by herself. Her hair had been shampooed and brushed out repeatedly last night as well, so she almost looked like a human in the mirror. Her hair was a little tousled because of her laying down, but it was livable. She wasn't that worried about how she looked anyway.

She made her way to the media room slowly, feeling as if she were moving through water. A lot of effort for very little result.

She was not entirely clear on what medication she had been given by the doctor, but it was some powerful stuff. She would have to pay more attention to it in the future.

If it didn't make her a drooling idiot first, that is.

With the clan asleep for the day and the Xanatos family going about the business of running their multi billion dollar empire, it was easy to move about the castle unnoticed.

That was how she preferred it for the moment. Her memory of the last twenty four hours were a little hazy. Everything since the first tower fell had been such a blur of panic and activity, that very little was very clear in her mind.

Elisa made her way to the armchair, and sat down. In all honesty, she fell into it more than actually sitting in it, but it was a point of pride for her that she managed to stay in the seat. She felt so out of sorts, so off balance.

This. This is why she hated medication stronger than tylenol or antibiotics. It was a little like having a hangover, without having the fun beforehand.

Feeling like she had run a marathon, Elisa took hold of the television remote and turned on the large screen in front of her. She hurried to turn it down as the volume hit her suddenly sensitive ears.

" _ **Yep,"**_ Elisa thought blurrily. " _ **Just like a hangover."**_

Once the volume had been reduced to a dull roar, Elisa turned to WVRN, the local news channel for Manhattan. She watched with a detached horror as the same areal scenes of the towers falling aired over and over. The president of the United States had given a speech yesterday, and the soundbites from it were all over.

A lot of things were being clarified for Elisa, however. The little news that had gotten through to those who were there at Ground Zero had really been scattered, so it was nice to find out the truth…

Or at least the truth as far as anyone knew it to be.

The reports were coming rapid fire now. The who, what, where and when's were all being spoken of...

The "why" of it all was not making sense. Elisa doubted that it ever really would to her.

Feeling guilty over not having done it already, Elisa took her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the station.

"Captain Chavez, please," She asked.

After a moment of really bad instrumental hold music, Elisa heard the familiar voice answer. "Chavez."

"Maria," Elisa replied, letting out the breath that she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Maza?" Maria asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, it's me." Elisa confirmed. "Sorry for not calling sooner, but they gave me some meds that have knocked me for a loop."

"I understand," Maria said. "I heard from your doctor that you were pretty cut up."

Elisa sighed. "I still should have called. Or at least _thought_ about calling. Honestly, thinking is a little difficult right now."

"I was just happy to hear that you were alive," Maria said bluntly.

"How many from our house were there?"

"Anyone I could spare," the captain admitted. "I had spread people all over, trying to keep watch over every entrance and exit out of Manhattan. You, Bluestone and a few others were even close to the site."

Elisa cleared her throat. She had dreaded the next question, but she had to know the answer. "Are any of our people missing?"

"No," Maria said with a deep sigh. "Everyone but you had made it back pretty soon after the collapses. A lot of our guys went to help with the rescue and recovery operations, but no one could find you."

"Sorry, cap," Elisa said softly. "My cell phone wasn't connecting, and then I was so busy helping where I could that passing time just didn't register."

"It happens like that sometimes," Maria acknowledged. "But I swear I am hooking you up to a tracking device. Your father will probably agree after he spent most of the night calling the station looking for you."

Elisa cringed. "I'm sorry about that."

"You have some good friends at that castle, my dear," Maria said. "Dr. James took the time to call your parents for you."

"Damn," Elisa said. "They were next on my list, I swear. I just needed to know…"

"I understand," Maria said softly. "How's the arms?"

"Stiff," Elisa admitted. "Sore."

"I bet. Well," Maria said with a frustrated sigh, "I guess it goes without saying that you are still out on medical leave until you get the clearance from the doctor that you are able to come back to work."

"I know," Elisa said frustrated. "Captain, is there anything I can do?"

"Not here," Maria said firmly. "If you _absolutely_ have to do something, you can register with the volunteer services and maybe man one of the volunteer stations."

Elisa knew that she couldn't count on her memory at the moment, so asked Maria to text her phone with the information. She hung up the phone, paused for a moment to collect herself, then dialed the next number.

At the gruff male voice that answered, Elisa felt her eyes begin to fill.

"Dad?"


	25. Chapter 24

"Elisa!" Her dad's voice raised in his surprise.

"Yeah, it's me," Elisa said, wiping at the tears that had welled up in her eyes. "I'm sorry that I didn't call sooner."

"We will take up that conversation later," He said. "How are you? We got a call from Dr. James that you had been hurt, but we didn't know how to get a hold of you."

"The cell phone towers must have cleared up," Elisa said. "I had been trying to call you since late yesterday afternoon, but my phone couldn't connect."

"That's alright," He hurried to assure her. "I am just relieved to hear that you are alright. Are you at home?"

"No, I'm at the castle right now." Elisa admitted.

She could practically hear her father frowning. "Why? Did they want you close to the doctor? Are you that hurt? I hate that you're in a tall building right now."

"All flights are still grounded," Elisa reminded him. "I am actually safer here, with all of the castle defenses than I would be at home."

"If you say so," Peter Maza reluctantly agreed.

"Where's mom?" Elisa asked.

"She's at a friend's house," He said. "You remember the Gutierrez family down the street from us?"

"Yeah."

"Their son was working in the South Tower."

"Oh, God." Elisa replied. "Have they heard anything?"

"Not yet," Peter said sadly. "They are hoping that he got out and had to cross into Brooklyn, or staying with a friend and he hasn't had a chance to call yet."

Elisa bowed her head. It was possible, but…

"It was bad, dad," Elisa admitted.

"I know, baby," He said soothingly. "Would you like us to come down there?"

Elisa's parents had moved North to Riverdale after Peter had retired from the force. They bought a small, two bedroom house with a fence and a yard. They claimed that it was for their grandchildren to play in… even though none of the Maza kids had thought about having children at the time. It was a bit of a drive to go visiting, but close enough to justify visiting often. Liam loved it up there, close to the water and open areas to ride his bike.

"No, dad," Elisa shook her head, even though her father couldn't see it. "Stay up there with mom."

"Well," He said, "To be honest, I was about to come down anyway. See if you could put your old man up for a few nights."

"Why?"

"They are going to need volunteers, Elisa." Peter said softly. "Not just the heavy lifting and digging, but things like helping with first aid, food and water distribution."

Elisa perked up a little. "That's something that I could do, too. Not the heavy lifting, but I could be _doing_ something."

"Elisa," Peter growled.

"No, dad," Elisa stopped him. "I _**need**_ to be doing something. I can't just sit here and watch the new reports. I'll go insane."

Peter sighed. He shouldn't have opened his mouth, knowing his daughter like he did. She was raised by a cop, had been exposed to the NYPD family. She practically _bled_ blue. Of course, she would want to help.

"Alright," Peter said reluctantly. "If you absolutely need to come with me…"

"I do," Elisa stated firmly.

"Then I will give you a call when I am heading out. I am going to call Maria and see what needs to be done, and where I can go to help."

"Thanks, dad."

"Don't thank me yet," Peter said. "Wait until your mother hears about this. I may be sleeping on the sofa for a week if she finds out."

"I won't tell her if you don't," Elisa promised.

"That's a deal." Peter agreed quickly.

Elisa smiled. After all these years, her big, tough, policeman father was still afraid of her mother's temper. Diane Maza was a real mama bear when it came to her kids, and Elisa was mildly surprised that she hadn't been here beating down the door trying to find her daughter.

"Have you heard from Derek or Beth yet?"

"Yes," Peter said. "The labyrinth got shaken up pretty good, some minor cracks and damage to the walls. They are having a flood of people coming in because of fear and the debris strewn around."

"I bet," Elisa said softly. "Dad, can you let them know I'm o.k.?"

"Already done," Peter assured her. "Derek was threatening to go down there himself to look for you, and we talked him into waiting. We called him the moment that we had heard from the doctor about your condition. I believe his words were 'I'm going to kick her butt when I see her'."

Elisa rolled her eyes. "He did not say that."

"Well, I may have left out a few choice phrases and swear words, but you get the idea."

"I got it," Elisa promised. "When are you coming down?"

"Just let me make those calls and go let your mom know where I'm going, then I will pack a bag with a couple of days worth of clothes and be on my way."

"See you soon," Elisa said.

With that, Elisa hit the "end call" button on her phone and turned off the television. She'd heard enough, seen enough.

Elisa walked to the elevators and went down to the Medical Wing. She met with a startled Dr. James, and asked him for help with the bandages.

Dr. James listened in frustration to Elisa and what she was planning to do. He had known that nothing short of being put into a coma was going to keep her down for long, but he _had_ hoped for at least a day or two of her taking it easy.

He said as much to Elisa, and gained what he had dubbed the "death stare" years ago.

Knowing that further argument was pointless, he unwrapped her arms. Checking for any signs of infection, he was relieved to find none… so far. He badgered her into taking her second dose of antibiotics for the day, and placed fresh dressings over the wounds. He pulled out all of the stops, determined to keep as much of the dust and debris out as he could and wrapped a water resistant bandage over the top of it all. Elisa could barely bend her arms once it was all on, but he flat out told her that she either wore the wrappings or he would personally tell the Aerie security team to not let her out of the building.

He didn't know if it would actually work, as he was certain that he didn't have that kind of pull. However, threat alone was enough to have Elisa agree with his terms.

He hoped she remembered once she was outside of the castle walls.

Elisa, freshly wrapped, went back up to say goodbye to Liam. He was instantly upset, and Elisa sat with him on her lap for a good half an hour before he calmed down. Once he was feeling more secure, and once more playing happily with Victoria, Alex and Christopher, Elisa slipped out.

She called her father, and he was still about fifteen minutes out. He had the location of the volunteer coordinator and had already spoken to Maria about their involvement. Elisa was restless, eager to get there. She decided to wait in front of the building for her father to pick her up. It was irritating not being able to drive herself, but even if she could bend her arms enough to drive and work the necessary controls, her car was still parked at the station house.

Soon, her father's huge black monster of a buick came rumbling down the road. He pulled up to a stop at the curb, and Elisa got in.

Peter Maza leaned over in his seat and hugged his daughter, tightly.

The two of them sat like that for a time, parent and child, and simply held each other. Finally, they pulled apart, and Peter maneuvered into traffic.

The traffic thinned out the closer to the towers that they got. Fewer and fewer businesses were open that direction as well. Some of the businesses had been boarded up windows due to damage from the collapsing buildings. Others must have simply chosen not to open. There were a few of the restaurants open, however, that had been damaged, but were open in spite of it.

"Hey, dad," Elisa burst out. "Can you go down Fulton Street? There's a pizza place that I need to go check on, a few blocks away from the Trade Center."

Peter turned down Church Street, and started looking for street signs to let him know where they were.

Finally, a Fulton street sign came into view, and Peter wound his way down the street. "What was the place called?"

"I don't know," Elisa admitted. "I ducked in there with some other people when the first tower fell. I just need to see if the place is still there. Make sure that the family that runs the place is okay."

Peter nodded, and slowed down so the Elisa could look closely at the signs and buildings.

"There," Elisa announced, pointing to a small pizzeria that had wood covering the broken window and doors. The name of the restaurant, Matty's Pizza, had been spray painted on the inside of the wood on the door, and had been propped open. The wood on the window also had a spray painted message: "Police, Fire, EMS and Volunteers eat free."

Peter pulled up to the empty curb and put the car in park.

Elisa let out a sigh. They were still there, still open for business.

"So," Peter said softly, "Do we go in, or do we just sit here?"

"Let's go in," Elisa said, opening her door.

Peter turned off the car, and followed his daughter in. There were workmen inside, some were plastering the walls and some were working on repairing the booths and tables. Elisa wandered between them, and walked up to the counter. Curiously, she peeked into the kitchen. If the dining room was a mess because of the construction, the kitchen was sparkling clean.

"We need another four large with everything," a familiar voice called out. "This one's going to the firehouse."

Elisa felt a smile come over her face… the first true smile in days.

The manager, the one who had given her the bags of bottled water and helped to take care of the little sick girl, was coming out of the large walk-in refrigerator.

"Know him?" Peter asked, relieved to see his daughter smile.

"Yeah," Elisa said. "He's the guy I wanted to see."


	26. Chapter 25

Matteo, the Pizzeria owner and manager, came into view carrying a deep metal pan full of cheese topping. He set it on the table with a solid _**thud**_ before turning to face Elisa and her father.

"Hello, and welcome to Matty's Pizza." He called out jovially. "What can I do for you folks?"

"Matteo," Elisa said, holding her hand out in greeting. "I am so happy to see that you are still here!"

Matteo took her hand and looked at her with curiosity. Then he looked a little closer. "Well, hell. It's you, Miss Maza!" He reached out with his other hand, holding her offered hand in both of his. "We were worried about you, my girl!"

Elisa couldn't help herself, she laughed. "It's good to see you too, Matteo. How is your family?"

"We are still here," He said, gesturing around. "Everyone here are my kids, my sons in law, or related somewhere down the line so far back we really can't remember."

Elisa laughed again. "It's good to have a big family, huh?"

"Won't hear me complain," Matteo said, grinning from ear to ear. "Now, what can we do for you?"

Elisa shook her head. "Nothing. I just wanted… No," she corrected herself. "I _needed_ to come and make sure that you were alright."

"We are," He assured her, the smile fading somewhat. "Thanks to you."

"No," Elisa shook her head. "It was thanks to you opening your doors and letting people take shelter here that was the biggest help."

"Until you got here," He protested. "We were all in the dining room. You got us away from the windows before they busted in, or there would have been some people really hurt."

"Well, let's agree to disagree on that one," Elisa said.

"Elisa," Peter said from behind the pair. "We need to go."

Elisa glanced over her shoulder, "O.K., dad."

"Oh," Matteo said, seeming to remember at once that there was someone else there. "I am sorry sir." He turned back to Elisa, "You said that this man is your father?"

"He is," Elisa said.

Matteo released Elisa hand to shake Peter's hand vigorously. "Thank you, sir. You raised a brave girl with a great head on her shoulders. We owe her a debt."

Elisa shook her head. "No, Matteo…"

"Nonsense," Matteo cut her off. "You come see us once in a while. You will never pay for a meal here as long as I am alive."

"Hey, pops!" Came a voice from the back. A sprightly young woman passed through the kitchen door with a notepad in hand, a pencil tucked behind her ear. "I just got a call from…" The girl stopped and slapped a hand across her mouth, cutting herself short. "Oh my God!"

Elisa remembered her as the one who had told her about the drug store where she could find the inhaler for the sick little girl.

Matteo motioned for her to come forward. "You remember my Andrea?" Matteo asked Elisa.

"I do," Elisa said, giving the girl a nod.

"Hold on," The girl said frantically. "Just give me a moment." She turned and disappeared into the back.

Elisa sent a puzzled look to Matteo, and he smiled at her again. "We found something of yours."

"Of mine?"

Suddenly Andrea was back, a familiar red jacket draped over her arm. While the coat had definitely seen better days, it was a welcome sight.

"I had given it up for lost!" Elisa exclaimed. She checked her pockets and found her badge and police identification still in the inner pocket.

"You left it behind," Andrea said, moving to stand with her father. "With the little girl that you got the medicine for."

"I had forgotten," Elisa said softly. "Do you know about the girl and her mother?"

"They have called a couple of times to thank us, and see if we knew who you were." Matteo said. "I hope you do not mind, but we found the ID in your pocket and gave her your name."

Elisa shook her head. "I don't mind. I was hoping to find out how she was doing someday."

Andrea smiled. "Evidently she wants to see you again, too." Andrea held out a piece of paper with a name and number on it. "Here's the information to contact the mother. Her English is a little iffy at times, but she's speaks fluent Spanish."

"I'll call her soon," Elisa promised, trying to bend her arm enough to put the paper in her jeans pocket.

Matteo frowned at her stiff movements. "Hey girl, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Elisa assured him. "I just got some minor cuts and bruises."

Peter rolled his eyes. "That's the polite way of her saying that she's got some injuries that is going to keep her from anything strenuous for a while."

"What are you doing out here, then?" Matteo chided her.

Elisa shrugged. "There's still things I can do."

"We are on our way down to the site and see what we can do to help. She," He gestured to Elisa, "wouldn't stay home, so she will be helping out at the food and water stations for the volunteers."

Matteo perked up. "Well, just give us a few moments, and we will give you some pizzas to take with you. We have about ten of them ready right now."

"Pop," Andrea protested. "Those are for that huge birthday party for the Samuelson's kid."

"That kid," Matteo scoffed. "He is spoiled enough as it is. He can wait a little while longer for his pizzas. This is for a good cause." He kissed his daughter's cheek. "Now, be a good girl and box those up for me, huh?"

"You're right, papa," Andrea said. "I'll get the boys working on a new batch."

"She's a good girl," Matteo said, nodding in the direction that Andrea had disappeared, "We will have about ten pies that we can donate for all of you. you let me know where you are at, and we will run more over if you need it."

"Thank you," Peter said. "It will be appreciated by all."

"We are all grateful for all that you do," Matteo bowed to them. Turning to Elisa, he said, "For what you have done for us all already."

Elisa felt a flush enter her face. She was no hero, and it was getting uncomfortable for her to be referred to as such.

Andrea came back through the doors, followed by three teenage boys. Each boy carried a small stack of pizza boxes. "The boys had a few more finished back there, so we went ahead and boxed those up as well."

"Good," Matteo beamed at his family. "Now, detective, you show the boys where your car is, and they will help you load them up. My Antonio will go with you to help carry them, and he will walk back here once the mission is completed."

Peter thanked Matteo once more, and led the way to his car.

Matteo gave Elisa's shoulder a pat, invited her back to visit again and wished her a good night.

'Good Night,' Elisa thought to herself. Something told her that there was going to be very little good about this night.


	27. Chapter 26

Luckily, they had managed to find a parking spot in a nearby bank parking lot. Together, Peter and Antonio carried the fourteen pizzas from the car to the volunteer food tent.

Elisa and Peter reported to the volunteer coordination tent to see where assistance was needed. Elisa offered to help in the food and drink area, knowing that was pretty much the only place that she _could_ be of any help.

Peter joined one of the bucket relay teams, as Elisa had been with that first night. There were multiple lines of people, passing buckets full of ash, dust and debris from the site of the buildings. The last person in the line emptied the bucket, and tossed it to another line, where it would work its way forward to be filled again. This process would be repeated over and over throughout the day in the hopes of finding more survivors.

Once in a while, there would be calls for silence, and an eerie silence would descend over the entire scene for minutes at a time before the digging would continue. That usually meant one of two things; One of the diggers had thought they heard a voice that could be a survivor, or someone had found the body of a person who had not made it out.

Elisa was far enough from the digs that she couldn't tell the difference in the quiet times anymore. She chose to believe that it was more often than not that they were listening for people. Already, a group of firemen had been found alive, having been protected in an area where the thick walls of a stairwell had protected them.

So there was still hope.

Elisa helped to serve pizza and bottles of water and juice to anyone who came to the tent. It was awkward at first, but soon she came up with a system. She was thankful for Antonio. He had stuck around to actually slice the few pizzas that he had not had time to cut at the restaurant, and after seeing how difficult it was for her to actually hand out the slices without bending her arms, he simply phoned his father and told him that he was needed there as a volunteer.

Antonio had returned, and took over putting the individual slices on the plates. He would hand Elisa a plate or two to distribute to the tables. Elisa thanked him profusely for the help, knowing that without him, she would be of no use to anyone. Antonio just smiled and quietly thanked her for helping his family when he was not there to do so himself, and passed her another plate to hand out.

Grateful that he was not making as big of a deal as his father and sister, Elisa simply smiled and continued her work. Twice more, one of Matteo's kids came by with more pizzas, and twice more the person stayed on to help. There were around a hundred people in the refreshment tent at any given time, and all were thankful for the food and drink. They would eat a slice or two, then go back out to continue their work.

Finally, after being there for most of the day, Peter came to collect Elisa from the tent. He sat with her, making sure that she ate a few slices herself before getting some for himself.

Antonio and his two brothers promised to come back to help more the next night, for as long as Elisa needed the help.

They were joined by Jacqueline Morgan, Officer Morgan's wife. She had been there for most of the day as well, helping at the first aid tent. She had noticed Elisa's arms early that day, and had inquired about the injury. From that point on, she had come over to check on Elisa every few hours or so to check the bandages. Now, however, she was taking a much needed break.

"How are the arms?" She asked.

"They are still there," Elisa said. "I just wish they were a little shorter."

Jacqueline chuckled. "I bet. A little hard to eat with those bandages on?"

"I can't fully bend my arms, so eating is a little hard," Elisa said in frustration.

"But," Peter interjected," She won't let me help her."

"Sorry dad, but having my father hand feed me pizza slices makes me feel like I am a toddler again." Elisa groused.

"I think I can help with that," Jacqueline said, leaning close to Elisa's arms. Carefully, she removed Elisa's outer, waterproof wrapping. "There. You will be able to bend them a little more now, just don't get wet."

Elisa bent her arms at the elbow, bringing the slice of pizza closer to her mouth and actually be able to take a bite. She gave an appreciative _hmmm._ "Oh my god, thank you."

Jacqueline laughed. "Just promise me that if you are going to be doing any more work for today, that you let me put those wrappings back on."

Elisa shook her head. "I'm finished today. We were just grabbing something quick to eat, them heading home for the night."

"Alright, sweetie." Jacqueline patted the detective on her shoulder. "It's really good to see you, Elisa. Morgan and I were really worried about you."

"Tell Morgan I said Hi, would you?" Elisa asked.

"You bet," She replied. "In fact, I think I just saw him over…"

She was cut off by a radio asking for first aid assistance. She apologized, and took off at a run.

"I wonder what that was for," Elisa said.

Peter shrugged and had just finished his last slice when there was a massive call for help. Peter threw his daughter a warning glance and told her to stay put. He got to his feet and ran with the other volunteers who had been in the tent.

Elisa followed behind them all, curious what had happened. She was there, in the background, when two PAPD officers were brought up from the rubble alive. Carefully, two lines of people, one on each side of the back boards, passed them down the line to the waiting ambulances.

She watched as they were loaded into the transport vehicles amidst the cheering of the volunteers.

Soon after, Peter helped her to the car. It was going to be dark soon, and he knew that she needed to be home before dark fell. They drove in silence the short distance to her condo building.

Along the way, she noticed that the sidewalks were lined with people. They were holding candles, flags and signs saying things like "God Bless the NYFD". It was encouraging to Elisa to see the city united as they were. She had heard from the other volunteers that people were coming out in droves, donation food and non-perishable items to the various fire and police stations to help those where were working at The Pile.

Correction, Elisa reflected. Only the people working there were calling it The Pile anymore. It was being called Ground Zero by the media now.

Ground Zero was fitting, she was thinking now. It was the place where an event took place that was going to change… well… everything.

They ran into Patty in the lobby as she was taking Tidbit out for her walk. Tidbit danced and flirted with Peter as Patty showed distress and hovered over Elisa. She offered her help to Elisa in any way that she could help.

"I'm going to pick something up for dinner at Zio across the street for dinner. Can I get you and your father anything?"

"We just had a few slices of pizza," Elisa said.

"Pizza?" Patty scoffed. "Please. Is your husband going to be home soon?"

"Yes," Elisa said. "He won't be here until after dark, though."

"That's good," Patty said. "I will pick you all up something to eat so that you don't have to cook tonight. What do you prefer? Steak or chicken?"

"Patty, you don't have to…"

"I know I don't have to." Patty said briskly. "I want to."

Elisa bowed her head in defeat. She had known Patty for a few years now, and knew when she wasn't going to win an argument. This was one of those times.

"Chicken." She admitted.

"Chicken for me as well." Peter said. "Thank you."

Patty nodded. "And for your son and husband?"

"The ravioli and the steak," Elisa said. "At least let me pay for half of it."

"Nope. Sorry." Patty said breezily. "I will phone in the order while Tidbit and I go for our stroll, and I will pick it up on the way back."

Elisa didn't mind pizza, but it was not her favorite food in the world. She had gone most of the day without eating, and the only things that she _had_ eaten was pizza. At the thought of real food, her stomach growled.

"There," Patty said triumphantly. "That settles that. I'll be back with dinner soon. You go rest." She called the last over her shoulder as she walked with her tiny poodle out the door.

"Just out of curiosity," Peter asked with a smile as they entered the elevator, "Have you ever won an argument with her?"

"Rarely," Elisa admitted. "She's a great lady, and she has kind of adopted Liam as an unofficial grandchild. She likes to take care of people when she can, and it seems that we have hit her radar tonight."

"I, for one, am not going to argue," Peter said. "Something other than fast food sounds amazing. I will make sure that the next time your mother and I are in town, that we treat her and her husband to dinner as a thank you."

"Sounds like a plan, dad." Elisa said. "I'll chip in if you take her somewhere really fancy. She needs it."

"Deal."

As the night before, while she had been as The Pile and had something to do, she was fine. Now that she had stopped, weariness was weighing on her.

"Would you like to go lay down?" Peter asked. "I can keep an ear out for the buzzer and let Patty up with dinner."

Elisa nodded. "I'm not sure if I will be able to sleep, but I would like to at least lay down."

The elevator door opened to the hallway just outside of her door, and Elisa dug her keys out of her pocket. She handed them to her father, and he opened the door for them both. The sun was just beginning to color the sky with the vivid colors of its descent.

Elisa retreated upstairs to her bedroom. She called and left a message with Owen that she had returned home. Her father would be staying with her for a few nights, so she would have help with Liam. If he could pass the message on to Goliath to let him know to bring their son home, she would be appreciative.

Then she laid down. Surprisingly, she actually did fall asleep… Not for long, but she did have a brief nap. When she woke, any trace of the sun had gone from the sky. She looked at her alarm clock, amazed that she had slept for almost an hour.

She felt more rested at that moment than she had in… well… almost a week now.

Knowing that Goliath couldn't be far away now, Elisa walked outside of the sliding doors of her bedroom and down the stone steps there to the courtyard.

And there, she waited for the rest of her family to come home at last.


	28. Chapter 27

Elisa stood there, gazing out across the city. Her bandaged arms were crossed on top of the chest high wall that surrounded the courtyard.

She heard, rather than saw Goliath land. She heard her son's squeal of delight at finding his grandfather there. The screen door was flung open and shut again.

Just as she had done countless times, she could feel Goliath's presence behind her. "Hey Big Guy," She said quietly. "You're late."

"Good evening, my love," He replied. giving her one of his old world deep bows. "And my deepest apologies. It seems that Angela decided that tonight was the night to finally get her egg in the rookery."

Elisa smiled. "Really? That is fantastic news!"

"We are all very happy for her and Broadway," Goliath said, moving up behind Elisa. Elisa felt his arms slide around her at the waist and smiled. Leaning back, she turned her head so that her cheek lay in his warm, solid chest.

"I'm glad you're here."

"As am I," Goliath said. "It has been too many nights since we were here as a family."

"I agree," Elisa said. "It has been too long."

The sound of Liam's laughter drifted out to where they stood, making his parents smile in reaction.

"I spent most of last night avoiding the television," Elisa said. "I was kind of hoping that if I didn't turn it on, that I could pretend it didn't happen. Like it was just one long bad dream."

Goliath wrapped his wings around her, trying to give her the added support.

"I finally gave in this morning," Elisa admitted, "and turned the news on. It really happened. The towers are gone and thousands of people are dead. They are putting together lists of the people who had been in the towers. Those who made it out and who didn't."

She finally turned her tear filled gaze to look at him then. "At least three hundred firefighters, another twenty or so police officers and almost forty officers from the Port Authority Police."

Knowing that there are some hurts that nothing can help, Goliath gathered her close and let her cry. He knew what it was like to lose a large number of friends and family due to a tragic event. Losing so many at once, feeling that much loss at one time, was indescribable.

"I went back down to the site today," Elisa said softly. She felt Goliath's muscles tense up, and she began softly stroking his arm. "Don't worry, Goliath. Dad kept a close eye on me, and a few new friends babysat me. I was relegated to the food tent, serving dinner and drinks to the other volunteers."

The tension slowly relaxed from Goliath's arms. "I swear, I was read the riot act by Dr. James who threatened to have security not let me out of the building. That is the man who has control over when I get to go back to work, so I didn't want to mess with him. But… I just couldn't live with myself if I sat around and did nothing."

Goliath chuckled softly. "I know you well, Elisa. I am just surprised that you waited so long."

"Yeah, I probably would have gone back out on the streets after getting stitched up," Elisa admitted now. "I went down there to try to help, but I couldn't even do that without a lot of help myself. I may go back tomorrow with dad, and help out in the food tent again, just to feel useful, but I know that I can't do the heavy stuff so rest easy, Big Guy."

They stood for a moment, gazing out at the changed skyline. Where the twin towers had once stood, there was now a bright pool of light, illuminating the darkness. There were still people there, even now, Elisa knew. There had been eleven people now that had been pulled alive from the wreckage, giving the people at Ground Zero hope for more. They would be there, twenty four hours a day for as long as they could continue.

Those lights would be there, shining brightly for a long time.

Elisa's shoulders rose and fell with a deep sigh. Together, they turned towards the condo. Elisa saw her father walking around with Liam slung over his shoulder, and Liam laughing like he hadn't a care in the world.

There were two large plastic take out sacks from Zio's on the table, and Elisa knew that Patty had made good on her promise to buy them all dinner.

Bless her.

"So," Goliath asked after a minute, "What happens now?"

"Now," Elisa said with a sudden determination, "We are going to go inside. We are going to have a fantastic dinner with our son and my father. We are going to enjoy our family, Goliath. We are going to make memories to keep the bad things at bay for the rest of the night."

"And tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Elisa shook her head. "Tomorrow is another day. One day at a time, Goliath."

Goliath gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"Things will change now," Elisa said. "It is never going to be the same again."

Goliath nodded. "Things are going to change in the days to come, of that I am certain. Some for the worse, some for the better." But those were worries for the future. "Tonight, I would like to spend time with my loved ones, and enjoy the blessing that we are able to be here together."

Arm in arm, Elisa and Goliath entered the living room to the sound of their son's innocent giggles, and did just that.


End file.
